Dragons put Knights to the sword

The St-George Illawarra Dragons have claimed a comfortable 24-16 over the Newcastle Knights in Newcastle tonight.

The Dragons led 14-0 at half time and held out a Knights comeback in the second half.

The Dragons scored their first try through Chase Stanley, it did appear as though he had lost control of the ball, although it was given through benefit of the doubt.

The Dragons held out a Knights attacking raid and then scored an 80 metre try through the Morris brothers on the stroke of halftime.

It only took four minutes after halftime for the Dragons to put the match to bed, Jamie Soward scoring a fine individual try for a 20-0 lead, and Jason Ryles crossed nine minutes later to put the Dragons up 24-0.

The Knights struck back with two tries to Junior Sau to set up a mildly tense final 10 minutes, but could only score on fulltime for the 24-16 final scoreline.

Match Details St George Illawarra Dragons 24 def Newcastle Knights 16 Round 17 - July 5th, 2008 7:30pm Venue: EnergyAustralia Stadium Referee: Sean Hampstead Half time: Dragons 14-0 Crowd: 22,348

Newcastle Knights 16 Tries: Junior Sau (2), Kurt Gidley Goals: Kurt Gidley (2/3) St George Illawarra Dragons 24 Tries: Chase Stanley, Josh Morris, Jamie Soward, Jason Ryles Goals: Jamie Soward (4/5)

LeagueUnlimited.com Player of the Match 3 Points: Jamie Soward (Dragons) 2 Points: Ben Hornby (Dragons) 1 Point: Jason Ryles (Dragons)

LeagueUnlimited.com Live Commentary
Touch Judges: Alan Shortall, Jeff Younis Video Referee: Phil Cooley

KNIGHTS: 1. Kurt Gidley 2. James McManus 3. Wes Naiqama 4. Adam MacDougall 5. Cooper Vuna 6. Chris Bailey 7. Jarrod Mullen 8. Steve Simpson 9. Danny Buderus (c) 10. Jesse Royal 11. Chris Houston 12. Cory Paterson 13. Zeb Taia Interchange: 14. Scott Dureau 15. Ben Cross 16. Richard Fa