NRL: Luke leaves it late to get Bunnies home

Souths hooker Issac Luke arrived at last night’s game just 20 minutes before kick-off. Photo / Getty Images

SYDNEY - Standout South Sydney hooker Issac Luke may have failed to make the warm-up but it was Cronulla who were again stone cold as the Bunnies powered to a breakthrough 30-8 NRL win at Toyota Stadium.

Luke, who battled peak-hour traffic to get to the Sutherland Shire after taking his pregnant girlfriend to hospital, was simply unstoppable out of dummy half last night as the Rabbitohs left the Sharks as the only side still to register a win in 2010.

Their 13th defeat in a row has the Sharks just one short of the Western Suburbs Magpies record for most consecutive losses since the inception of the NRL.

Things get no easier as they look to avoid equalling that unwanted statistic with the Sharks to face a desperate Parramatta side on Saturday night.

Cronulla again showed little in attack - a situation which should improve with the confirmation former Parramatta No 7 Tim Smith would join the club this week - while rookie fullback Luke Kelly had a night to forget under the high ball.

Kelly, starting his first game in the No 1 jumper, dropped or failed to get a hand to five bombs, with two of his fumbles leading to first half tries as the Rabbitohs turned an early deficit into a 18-4 lead that Cronulla were never going to reel in.

The Rabbitohs, on the back of good impetus from Luke and a forward pack which had copped the brunt of criticism for the back-to-back losses to start the season, did as they pleased against the Sharks, with Beau Champion scoring a double and English import Sam Burgess scoring his try for the club.

Luke Covell gave the Sharks faithful hope of an upset when he slid down the short side to score in the seventh minute, but two tries to Champion and another to Colin Best in the space of ten minutes knocked the stuffing out of the hosts.

When Burgess crashed through non-existent goal line defence two minutes after the restart the game was as good as over, Luke doing likewise just after the hour to complete a tremendous performance.

Luke declined to comment on the pre-game drama after the match but Rabbitohs coach John Lang said he was never too worried about it affecting the hooker's game.

"Not a lot worries, Issac I don't think. I don't think he spends a lot of time before the game visualising," said Lang, who revealed Luke arrived 20 minutes before kick-off.

"He was ringing along the way, I think he actually got pulled up by the police - he wasn't driving I might add - so that set him back a little further but he always had time to get here."

Souths officials later revealed Luke's partner, who wasn't due to give birth but had a minor complication, had been released from hospital.

As for the relief of finally getting a win, Lang said: "We've struggled to win games we're expected to win.

"The boys came here tonight and everyone's telling them `you should win this game' ... we were under pressure and we worked hard and we got the points."

Sharks coach Ricky Stuart lamented the amount of ball his side dropped, but he refused to heap blame on 20-year-old Kelly.

"I don't feel for him because he's learning - that's his first game of first grade football for 80 minutes," Stuart said.

"What I'm wishing is I had another 16 of him - that kid's brilliant, he's going to be a real player.

"I'm certainly not going to burn him out at this level ... I told him he wasn't going to be the player I think he will be until 2012.

"There's a lot of better catchers in the game that wouldn't have caught those bombs tonight."

- AAP