South Sydney forward Sam Burgess will miss the Rabbitohs’ match against Newcastle on Saturday after being found guilty of a grade one dangerous contact charge by the NRL judiciary on Wednesday night.
Souths decided to fight the charge with Burgess set to miss a game regardless of whether he took an early guilty plea.
The English international was charged with grade one dangerous contact to the neck or head, following a high tackle on new NSW State of Origin forward Andrew Fifita during Monday night’s loss to Cronulla.
Ladder-leading Souths will find themselves substantially understrength on Saturday at ANZ Stadium, Burgess’s suspension coming after they lost Greg Inglis, Ben Te’o, Chris McQueen and possibly John Sutton to Origin duty.