Sonny Bill Williams has made a successful return to the NRL, as his Sydney Roosters beat the Canberra Raiders 18-6 in a Grand Final rematch on Saturday.
Williams played 13 minutes off the bench in his first competitive match in six months and his first NRL outing since 2014.
In his short stint, Williams made five runs for 23 metres and produced one offload in his short stint, while making five tackles.
The win saw the Roosters jump to third on the NRL ladder, although they can be overtaken if the Parramatta Eels beat the NZ Warriors on Sunday.
Speaking to Fox League after the match, Williams admitted the game has changed so much since his last NRL match six years ago.
"To be honest it was pretty fast, but I expected it," says Williams
"I've never played in the middle in my whole career. It was nice to get back out there and feel the lungs and taste the blood on the chest.
"I loved being back out there, I loved being back in the game that I grew up playing. I think it's just gone to another level in the last six years."
The 35-year-old will see out the remainder of the NRL season with the Roosters, before rejoining the Toronto Wolfpack for the final year of his contract in the English Super League.
The Wolfpack were forced to withdraw from the remainder of the 2020 Super League season due to complications as a result of coronavirus.
Roosters coach Trent Robinson was pleased with what he saw with Williams and he expects his minutes to increase over the coming weeks
"I had two plans for Sonny depending on how some of the players went there," he says. "That was a good opportunity to get him out there, to get him uncomfortable and get some combinations going and then get him off and get him ready again for next week.
"That was our plan; first stint and I thought he did well.
"He is not a middle defender, so he has played back row his whole career and centre in rugby union.
"But that's what the team needed from him and he knew that, so I was really happy with his movements there. He had some goal-line defence sets to do and I thought he did really well.
"The other plan is to play him on the edge so we will just see how we go and I will keep working on those combinations."
Elsewhere the Wests Tigers kept their faint hopes of qualifying for the NRL finals alive with a come-from-behind 34-32 win over the Manly Sea Eagles.
The Sea Eagles led 32-18 with 11 minutes remaining, but three late tries saw the Tigers snatch victory.
Both teams scored six tries, but the Tigers landed on more conversions than the Sea Eagles.
"One thing I do know about this group, they have got the belief. It's just opportunities and putting themselves in the right space to get plays on - their belief got them the win," Tigers coach Michael Maguire said.
Meanwhile, the Canterbury Bulldogs remain rooted to the bottom of the standings after an 18-14 loss to the Gold Coast Titans.
Join us at 6pm for live updates of the NZ Warriors v Parramatta Eels NR clash
