The eighth of Saturday night’s NRL Nines matches is between South Sydney Rabbitohs and St George Illawarra Dragons. The opening kick is set to commence at 13:40pm. The away team the St George Illawarra Dragons are the current favourites in the market. View our preview and teams for the game between South Sydney Rabbitohs and St George Illawarra Dragons.

When: 13:40 | Saturday 15/02/2014

Featured Bookmakers:

South Sydney Rabbitohs $2.42 vs St George Illawarra Dragons $1.56 at Sportsbet Australia get a $250 FREE BET on this match

South Sydney Rabbitohs $2.25 vs St George Illawarra Dragons $1.65 at Luxbet Australia get a $500 FREE BET on this match

Odds Comparison:

South Sydney Rabbitohs	2.42	2.25	2.25	2.25	2.42	2.20
St George Illawarra Dragons	1.56	1.65	1.65	1.65	1.56	1.67

All odds are subject to change. Odds listed are correct at the time of the latest update.

Teams:

St George-Illawarra Dragons:
Josh Dugan, Brett Morris (c), Dylan Farrell, Nathan Green, Jason Nightingale, Adam Quinlan, Sam Williams, Jack de Belin, Mitch Rein, Tyson Frizell, Leeson Ah Mau, Joel Thompson, Trent Merrin, Bronson Harrison, Michael Witt, Craig Garvey.

South Sydney Rabbitohs:
Nathan Merritt, Beau Champion, Alex Johnston, Joel Reddy, Dylan Walker, Luke Keary, Apisai Koroisau, Dave Tyrrell, Irae Simone, Ben Lowe, Chris McQueen, Ben Te’o (c), John Sutton, Cameron McInnes, Kyle Turner, Lote Tuqiri.

News:

The Dragons have named a near full-strength squad, with fast and mobile centers and second rowers making up the bulk of the team but with the notable absence of Gerard Beale, Mike Cooper, Ben Creagh, Dan Hunt and Gareth Widdop.

The exclusion of Widdop, replaced by Adam Quinlan, with Sam Williams at half is an experimental combination which could make or break the Dragons, but Quinlan is fast so maybe this was the deciding factor.

The Souths lineup disappoints with the exclusion of many star players and in particular we will not get to see what four rampaging Burgess brothers could have done in this competition.

It will be interesting to see how Lote Tuqiri goes.

Former Penrith NRL halfback Luke Walsh scored a try on debut for St Helens on Thursday in their 38-8 victory over Warrington in the opening round of the new Super League season.

Walsh also kicked seven goals from as many attempts in his first match for the Saints, who ruined Warrington’s stadium anniversary celebrations with three tries in each half.

Warrington, pre-season title favourites, began their 10th season at the Halliwell Jones Stadium without former captains Lee Briers and Adrian Morley and the lacklustre display suggested they might be a less imposing team.

Saints look well equipped to improve on last year’s fifth-placed finish, with prop Kyle Amor also making a hugely impressive debut.

He was a tower of strength in the forward battle and scored a try of his own.

St Helens coach Nathan Brown is keeping his players’ feet on the ground despite their impressive opening performance.

“Warrington as a team have been so successful for so long so to get the result was pleasing.

“We’re really rapt with what the guys did but we’re certainly not going to get carried away.

“It’s a good start but it’s about consistently doing well.”

“Walshy had a lot of good contributions for us, built on the back of some of the forwards’ work.

“I thought our game management in the second half was actually quite poor but it’s clear to see what Walshy can bring to the team,” Brown said.

It was a bitter defeat for Warrington, who have high expectations after finishing as premiership runners-up for the past two years.

The home side gave a debut to former South Sydney prop and New Zealand international Roy Asotasi and scored the game’s first try in the second minute when Michael Monaghan combined with Chris Bridge to get his brother Joel over.

But St Helens quickly recovered as winger Tom Makinson ran in the first of three tries from the visitors in eight minutes.

James Roby and Amor then crossed for St Helens, who scored again early in the second half through substitute prop Anthony Laffranchi.

Joel Monaghan scored his second try after 68 minutes, but it was little consolation for Warrington.

This was just the second match of the new Super League campaign following Huddersfield’s 24-8 win against Wigan last Friday.

Hull FC play Catalan Dragons in the next of the opening-round matches on Friday.