South Sydney second-rower Ben Te'o said Rabbitohs were surprised by how easily they broke through Wests Tigers defence Ben Te'o is all smiles at a Souths recovery session yesterday. Picture: Mitch Cameron Source: The Sunday Telegraph RABBITOHS second-rower Ben Te'o has revealed just how weak the struggling Wests Tigers defence has become - conceding the biggest problem Souths faced was staying composed once they broke the line. While the Tigers conceded 54 points on Friday night, what most concerned critics was the ease with which they gave up ground in the middle. Tigers forward Adam Blair was the worst offender, missing seven tackles, including a terrible attempt on Souths halfback Adam Reynolds. Eddy Pettybourne and Benji Marshall also missed five each, taking the Tigers' tally to 49, with another eight also deemed "ineffective." Having started his career at Wests Tigers, Te'o admitted feeling for the players, especially those like Marshall with whom he has a close friendship. Ben Te'o tries to break a Tigers tackle on Friday night. Yet when quizzed on whether he was surprised with the ease in which Souths made ground up the middle, the Queensland Origin incumbent replied: "Ah, yeah I was. Right from those first few sets, when we got our big boys running, you could see we were punching through pretty easy and getting a roll on. That's where we had to stay composed. We were breaking the line (so) easily, guys then wanted to offload a lot. So that's the main thing we spoke about at halftime, staying composed. Asked if he was surprised with the breaks made through the guts of the Tigers defence, Souths coach Michael Maguire said: "Not surprised, no, because we've got a good forward pack. We started George Burgess this time, who did a great job for us. But all the forwards, they laid the platform and enabled the ball players to play. Obviously Greg (Inglis) then scored a number of tries off the back of that. The boys are working hard for each other which helps us to play like that.