Add Category
Updated
South Sydney prop George Burgess has landed in hot water after an alleged eye gouge marred the Wests Tigers' ugly 14-9 NRL win over the Rabbitohs on Thursday night.
- George Burgess put his fingers in the face of Wests Tigers' hooker Robbie Farah during a tackle
- He could face a lengthy suspension if found guilty of eye gouging, having also been given a four-match ban last year following a similar incident
- The Rabbitohs have now lost four-straight matches
Burgess was put on report and will face scrutiny from the match review committee for an incident on Robbie Farah before a piece of Michael Chee-Kam brilliance extended the Rabbitohs' losing streak at the new Parramatta stadium.
The Englishman is facing the prospect of a lengthy ban if charged after last year copping a four-match suspension for an eye gouge on New Zealand's Dallin Watene-Zelezniak.
Burgess put his fingers in the Tigers veteran's face during a tackle and Farah got up and complained to referee Adam Gee, who placed Burgess on report early in the first half.
"He (Burgess) obviously apologised and said he didn't mean it," Farah told ABC Grandstand.
"At the time I thought it was a pretty poor thing. I'll leave it in the hands of the judiciary."
Chee-Kam was the unlikely hero, producing a four-pointer out of nothing after he ran 50 metres, beating attempted tackles by Kyle Turner and Adam Reynolds before stepping around full-back Corey Allan.
It was reminiscent of his late match-winning effort against Brisbane in round five, as Michael Maguire's side registered their second win in a row.
Earlier it looked like Reynolds — in his first match since returning from a back injury — had won his side the game when he broke the 8-8 deadlock with a field goal in the 73rd minute.
Chee-Kam, however, struck with three minutes remaining, as the Rabbitohs slumped to their fourth-straight defeat.
While Chee-Kam's late try lit up the 9,807-strong crowd, it was a largely uninspiring affair.
Both sides struggled to hold onto the ball in slippery conditions, which have become a hallmark of night matches played at the venue, with the Rabbitohs making 14 errors and the Tigers 12.
The scores were locked up at 8-8 at half-time, however the Tigers should have been up by more after spending most of the first 40 minutes inside the Rabbitohs' end.
The Tigers had 61 per cent of possession and 22 tackles inside the opposition's red zone compared to the Rabbitohs' two but struggled to land a punch.
They did get back on level pegging two minutes before the half-time siren when Luke Brooks dabbed the ball into the in-goal and Corey Thompson beat Reynolds and Roberts to score.
But the Rabbitohs were equally wasteful in the second half, as their representative season slump continued.
AAP/ABC
Topics: nrl, rugby-league, sport, australia, nsw, parramatta-2150, leichhardt-2040, redfern-2016
First posted