NRL: Claws come out in Wests Tigers' morale-boosting win

Tigers and Souths players get up close and personal. Photo / Getty Images

Tigers enforcer Aaron Woods has ignited a new front row rivalry, accusing South Sydney opposite Sam Burgess of "carrying on" and "over-reacting" during Friday's spiteful clash.

Woods and Burgess went toe-to-toe in the eighth minute after the Englishman took exception to his little brother George being folded back awkwardly in a two-man tackle. A fired-up Woods later said Burgess' reaction inspired his underrated pack to "not take a backward step" and "put it back on them".

"I think he carried on a bit and over-reacted a bit," the New South Wales Origin prop said.

"George [Burgess] keeps pushing forward on his knees, so you've got to fold him back to win the ruck. I didn't tackle him for no reason.

"Everyone talks about the four Burgess brothers and we just wanted to put it on them. We've got 17 here so we didn't really care about them."

Wests' refusal to lie down clearly agitated Souths but Woods enjoyed the regular confrontations that ended with five players being placed on report. The 110kg prop was captured smiling and baiting opposition forwards throughout the game and later revealed Manly's win over Souths the week before had provided the blueprint for this season's biggest upset thus far, with the Tigers winning 25-16.

"We got in their face," Woods said. "Manly showed the way against them last week and we took that from their book."

Tigers forwards were particularly incensed by high shots on young pair Luke Brooks and James Tedesco, which could land Souths forwards George Burgess and Ben Te'o in trouble this week.

On the other hand, Wests benchman James Gavet is expected to come under scrutiny for a knee to the head of George Burgess and a leg twist on Kiwi Issac Luke.

Souths are hopeful Greg Inglis will be fit to face Canberra next weekend but there is doubt over Luke's availability after the hooker suffered a shoulder injury on Friday night.

Luke was clearly distressed, appearing in agony as he clutched his left shoulder after being driven into the turf in a solid tackle. Inglis was knocked out in the fifth minute in a Tim Simona hit and, as per the NRL's new concussion rules, the superstar fullback didn't return.

Tigers skipper Robbie Farah says his team has finally earned respect after their spiteful win over Souths. In a game full of incidents, in which five players were placed on report, three were replaced due to the new concussion rules and two were sin-binned, the Tigers outmuscled Souths in a morale-boosting win.

After a disappointing 44-24 round one loss to St George Illawarra, the Tigers earned their first win of the season with a record 42-12 thumping of Gold Coast last weekend. But Farah said he felt his side didn't get the credit they deserved and set about proving they are an NRL force against one of the competition heavyweights in the Rabbitohs.

"We wanted to come out and earn some respect and I think we did that."

- Sunday Telegraph, AAP