Dragons fire up against
ordinary Tigers

The St George Illawarra Dragons have led all the way to crush Wests Tigers 42-8 at Campbelltown Stadium today. (pic: St George winger, Matt Cooper scoring out wide)

Both sides were guilty of some poor handling but it was the Dragons who eventually settled down enough to run away with a convincing victory. At half time, the Dragons held a 8-0 lead but with 56% of possession, should have led by more.

Saints' situation wasnt getting any better with Lee Hookey (3rd minute) and Justin Smith (31st minute) both heavily concussed and stretchered from the field - Smith with a neck brace.

Playing with a two man bench, Saints came out firing in the second half and with 20 minutes to go, the Dragons held a 26-0 lead.

Wests Tigers struck back with two tries but once again were guilty of turning over the ball cheaply, allowing Saints open passage to victory.

Man of the match was Mark Gasnier who collected a hat trick of tries for the first time in his first grade career. Also strong was Mark Riddell with some great runs just wide of the ruck. He could have impressed even more if he recognised his support players. Trent Barrett played one of his best games of the year and looks to be returning to form.

2:30PM, Sun 28 July 2002 Campbelltown Stadium Referee: T Mander

Wests Tigers 8 (Tries: Skandalis, McGuinness. Goals: Skandalis 0/1, Jeffries 0/1) defeated by St George Dragons 42 (Tries: Gasnier 3, Cooper, Barrett, Hornby, Riddell, Roberts. Goals: Roberts 0/2, Riddell 5/6)