An injury to South Sydney fullback Latrell Mitchell has overshadowed the Rabbitohs’ 24-12 win against the Dragons on Saturday.
Mitchell lasted just 14 minutes before he was forced to come from the field with a suspected hamstring injury.
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The South Sydney fullback remained was left on the turf following a tackle from Dragons forward Aaron Woods when Rabbitohs trainers were signalled for a closer inspection.
While the full extent of the injury won’t be known until further scans, Mitchell in 2020 had his season cut short when he ruptured the proximal hamstring tendon in his left leg.
Reports during the game said that the Rabbitohs were concerned about the surface of the Accor Stadium ground, in part due to a music festival last week, which required several new layers of turf to be put out on the field for Saturday’s game.
“It’s a hamstring injury… he (Mitchell) says he doesn’t feel too bad, but we will get a scan tomorrow,” said Souths coach Jason Demetriou after the match.
On the playing surface, Demetriou said he wasn’t aware of any issues with the turf.
“The players weren’t speaking about it. I’m not sure, Latrell just said stepped off his left leg and his left leg was out pretty far… I just think it was an accident,” he said.
Meanwhile, today’s win for the Rabbitohs is their second of the season through five rounds.
It took the home side a tick over five minutes to get things rolling when Damien Cook found space in the middle of the field before Campbell Graham finished off his hooker’s big run with the perfect assist to Mitchell, who dived over in the corner.
The Rabbitohs led 10-0 at half-time, and despite a response from Moses Mbye to cut the deficit to just four points at the 46th-minute mark, South Sydney didn’t lose their cool.
Graham hit back from the Rabbitohs just five minutes late to stretch his side’s lead back to two tries before Taane Milne sealed the win late on.
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