Rabbitohs romp to record WCC win

South Sydney have comprehensively announced themselves as rugby league world club champions with a 39-0 win over Super League side St Helens.

South Sydney players celebrate after winning the World Club Series

South Sydney have thrashed Super League title holders St Helens 39-0 in the World Club Challenge. (AAP)

South Sydney put the Bunny blitz on Super League champions St Helens to emphatically confirm their status as world champions with a record-breaking 39-0 win.

The one-sided World Club Challenge win, which was all but over following a 24-0 first half onslaught, also handed the NRL sides a cleansweep of the inaugural World Club Series.

"Excellent," was all coach Michael Maguire needed to muster when asked how it felt to be world champions.

"I'm really proud of the players ... It was a great performance."

Capping off an incredible six months for the club, the Rabbitohs are now in possession of the World Club Challenge trophy in addition to the Provan-Summons trophy as NRL premiers, the Charity Shield and also won the Nines tournament last month.

On hand to watch Sunday night's devastating performance in St Helens was Clive Churchill medal winner Sam Burgess and co-owner Russell Crowe, who shunned the glitz and glamour of the Oscars red carpet for a two-degree night in the north of England.

At least the Rabbitohs helped justify his decision with an award-winning performance of their own.

Deflated St Helens coach Keiron Cunningham said his team knew what was coming, but were simply not capable of preventing the avalanche of points.

"We just got schooled by the best side in the world," he said.

A late Adam Reynolds field goal ensured the mauling eclipsed the 38-point WCC wins by the Sydney Roosters in 2003 and Melbourne Storm in 2000 - both of which were also against St Helens.

The Rabbitohs scored early and often, rarely letting up between their opening try in the third minute and their seventh in the 67th.

They stated their intentions when off-season recruit Glenn Stewart scored from his first touch for the club in a competitive match, in just the third minute.

The former Manly backrower cleaned up the scraps from a Reynolds kick which was missed by the initial chasers.

A Reynolds penalty goal extended the lead, before the Bunnies crossed again - this time through the explosive Dylan Walker on 20 minutes.

Walker, showing why he is favoured to break into the NSW Origin side this year, backed up a Reynolds line-break and did well to beat two defenders on a swerving 30-metre run.

Greg Inglis compounded the pain four minutes later when he backed up a Bryson Goodwin offload and introduced Langtree Park to his trademark goanna try celebration when he extended the lead to 18-0.

The 17,980-strong crowd were on the verge of begging for mercy after 31 minutes when an awkward banana kick from deposed skipper John Sutton, now playing in the second-row, took a wicked bounce past half a dozen St Helens players, and sat up kindly for Joel Reddy to score the first of his two tries.

It took just six minutes into the second half for the rout to resume, with five-eighth Luke Keary grabbing the spoils from a Reynolds bomb as the scoreline ticked past 30, and it grew further when Chris McQueen sliced through some butter-soft defence out wide.

Souths had Walker, Reynolds, Sutton and Bryson Goodwin all leave the field with concussion, but Maguire they'd recovered well and were expected to be available against Brisbane on Thursday week in the NRL season-opener.


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Source: AAP


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