Sam Burgess’s shoulder charge on Daly Cherry-Evans highlights huge inconsistency in the game

MONDAY BUZZ: Sam Burgess’s disgusting shoulder charge on Daly Cherry-Evans is symptomatic of the match review committee’s inconsistency.

Burgess seems to know just what he’s going to do.

This is a classic rugby league shoulder charge. It is as clear as daylight to all but the NRL match review committee.

Check out the small photo first as Sam Burgess looks towards Daly Cherry-Evans and eyes off his much smaller target.

Then … CRASH.

Look at the whiplash. DCE’s head jolts violently away from his neck as Burgess goes thump with his right shoulder.

Like a car accident when you get hit from behind.

MONDAY BUZZ: Highlights, lowlights

Burgess seems to know just what he’s going to do.

Now at this point of the column most of the old school fans will be saying “Toughen up Buzz … it’s rugby league — it’s a collision game.”

The more modern line of thinking, bearing in mind the concussion issue and the ongoing legal threat, is that the game must continue to crack down on the shoulder charge.

Junior numbers across the game are on an alarming downfall because of the contact and concussion concerns.

In fairness the NRL has issued 11 shoulder charge charges this year. There were only 14 in total in 2016.

But the fact Burgess hasn’t been charged again highlights the inconsistency in this area of the game.

SOFT: Souths slump as Sea Eagles sizzle

Manly teammates show their concern for Cherry-Evans. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Michael Buettner, the head of the match-review committee, has tried to defend the decision not to charge Burgess.

“The Match Review Committee deemed it a collision,” he said, “Daly Cherry-Evans was a support player and Sam Burgess was trying to cover across in defence.

“There did not appear to be any intent in his actions. It was considered a concerning act due to contact with the head and the fact that Cherry-Evans was not in possession of the ball.

“But this was not considered a shoulder charge action. This sort of collision is not the sort of action the rules around shoulder charges were implemented for.”

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Seriously, Buettner is watching different footage to the rest of us. A picture never lies and this was so obvious.

Never mind the fact DCE wasn’t seriously hurt. The fact is other players have been suspended for doing exactly the same tackle. This is all about consistency. That’s all the fans want.

Every player needs to be treated the same.

South Sydney's stats show cause for concern.

MADGE STILL THE MAN FOR SOUTHS

Michael Maguire built South Sydney’s 2014 premiership on defence.

They were number one in the game in every area of defence — points conceded, tries conceded, metres conceded, line-breaks conceded, the least missed tackles and the least offloads conceded.

Compare those figures to 2017. There are only nine survivors from the 17-man 2014 grand final squad.

This 2017 team has an obvious attitude problem. They were disgraceful in the 46-8 loss to Manly on Friday night.

Surprisingly Rabbitohs boss Shane Richardson didn’t sound overly concerned when we spoke over the weekend. He backed everything Maguire is doing.

This is despite Kyle Turner missing seven tackles and Tom Burgess five.

“I’ve seen a fair few worse than Friday night,” Richardson said. “We got beaten last year by 50 something against Canberra.

“You have bad performances and you’ve just got to bounce back from them. “I’ve got absolute confidence that Madge will turn it around.”