Souths relieved after scraping Sharks

April 25, 2009 - 12:13PM

South Sydney centre Beau Champion says the mood in the home dressing room was far from euphoric after Friday's 32-26 NRL victory over Cronulla at ANZ Stadium.

Souths were almost made to pay for taking their foot off the pedal when leading 22-6 in the first half then 32-18 in the second.

The Sharks scored two late tries in either half to give the final scoreline a flattering look and Champion said Jason Taylor's side must start learning how to kill teams off.

"We played in patches and that is something we have to address and work on, we can't let teams back into games," said Champion, who scored two tries and set up a third for Nathan Merritt.

"We pride ourselves on our defence and tonight we let in 26 points, but we are a young team and still learning.

"It's always good to score a couple of tries but the most important thing is that we won. We've come off two poor losses and we wanted to get back in the winners' circle."

Champion admitted there were some strong words from Taylor and skipper Roy Asotasi after the game but backed his young side to maintain their good start to the season.

"After the game we sat down and addressed a few issues .. Roy Asotasi spoke after the game about putting teams away and putting them on the back foot," he told AAP.

"I thought we had the Sharks tonight when we had them at 22-6 and to let them back in was very disappointing but two points is two points.

"I think our intensity dropped but all credit to the Sharks, they came back at us, but we did have them on the rack in the first half and when we learn how to kill teams off when we are in front we will be a better team for it.

Sharks coach Ricky Stuart refused to attack his players after a sixth successive defeat and said he was certain their attitude and courage will be rewarded soon.

"I am proud to be involved with these guys .. a lot of coaches would love to have a team with the spirit and attitude of these boys," Stuart said.

"Our completion rate was up from 45 to 60 per cent to 75 per cent for the two halves tonight and that is excellent.

"But we made a couple of poor judgments and misses in defence and we were punished."

Sharks skipper Paul Gallen, only just back from a two-match ban, admitted he was concerned about another spell on the sidelines after being warned by referee Ben Cummins about a high tackle on Craig Wing.

Gallen was not put on report but must wait to see if the NRL judiciary takes action after reviewing video footage of the incident.