Dragons rope-in Cowboys but Head
gone for season

Fulltime score: Round 14 St George Illawarra Dragons 34 North Queensland Cowboys 4

Match summary:

The St George Illawarra Dragons have made a triumphant return to their spiritual home of Kogarah Oval with a thumping 34-4 victory over the North Queensland Cowboys. The triumph has come at a terrible cost to the Dragons though, with halfback Mathew Head ruled out for the rest of the season with cruciate ligament damage.

This match took a while to get going, with only two tries in the first half resulting in a 6-4 half time lead to the Dragons. The Cowboys opened up their account in the 5th minute, posting a four pointer through replacement winger Jason Barsley out wide. Centre Josh Hannay missed the goal and that was it for the Cowboys, who failed to register a point for the rest of the game despite promising opportunities in the first half.

The Dragons hit back in the 14th minute, with fleet-footed winger Wes Naiqama bagging the first of his two tries in a sweeping backline movement. Seven minutes later the Cowboys were denied a try by the video referee to former Dragon and five-eighth Justin Smith.

A few minutes later things turned ugly for the Dragons, with both Head and Timmins going down in separate incidents with knee injuries. Whilst Timmins returned to the game later on, Head took no further part and is lost for the rest of the season. This is a cruel blow to the Dragons, who have struggled with injuries in seasons gone by and looked to have broken the curse. It also comes on top of Trent Barrett and Mark Gasnier both breaking down at training in camp with the NSW State of Origin team earlier in the week.

Shrugging this adversity aside and reshuffling their backline, the Dragons came out in the second half and put on five unanswered tries to Naiqama, Ennis, Marteene, Best and replacement fullback Greenshields, who looks to be an ample fill-in for Hornby when he is moved into the playmaking role. The remaining bits and pieces of the backline really came together, with Marteene who joined from Souths only three weeks ago, and former Manly three-quarter Torrens all playing above their weight against the understrength Cowboys. Perhaps the most pleasing aspect of the victory for the Dragons is their extensive depth that has been tested on a few occasions in the past due to injuries. Today a very young front row took on an experienced pack and came out on top, giving some very positive signs for the stable of forwards the Dragons have waiting in the wings.

The Dragons have now moved into 7th position and find themselves in the top eight for the first time this year. They travel to the SCG next week to take on an enthusiastic Rabbitohs outfit who dished up a hiding to Manly last night. The Cowboys won?t let this one worry them too much, but it?s clear they miss their stars quite a lot. They will lick their wounds next week as they take the bye.

Scorers: ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS Tries: Naiqama 2, Ennis, Marteene, Best, Greenshields Goals: Head 1/1, Gorrell 4/5 NTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS Tries: Barsley Goals: Hannay 0/1

Oki Jubilee Stadium, Kogarah Referee: Tim Mander Crowd: 15,260 Half time: Dragons 6-4.

Live commentary:

Beautiful winter's day here at Kogarah. Lance Thompson and Willie Manu are late inclusions for the Dragons.

And we're underway here at Oki Jubilee!

5 min: TRY - Cowboys. Barsley for the Cowboys goes over out wide after the Dragons fail to number up. Hannay misses the conversion. Cowboys 4 Dragons 0.

10 min: Both teams sorting each other out here in the forwards.

14 min: TRY - Dragons. Naiqama strikes back in the corner following some deft passing from the backline and good finishing skills from the winger. Head converts well from the sideline. Dragons 6 Cowboys 4.

21 min: NO TRY - Cowboys. Justin Smith denied a try in the corner. Meanwhile, bith Head and Timmins have left the field for the Dragons through injury. Dragons 6 Cowboys 4.

24 min: OUCH - Head and Timmins both have knee injuries. At this stage Head's looks the more serious as Timmins has returned to sit on the bench.

30 min: NEWS - Some sloppy play from both teams with poor handling and silly penalties adding up.

Halftime: A bit of a dour struggle here at Kogarah. So many big names out from both sides has nobbled the creativity of the game along with two key injuries to Head and Timmins for the Dragons. It looks like it's going ot be one of those ugly games that is won by simple plays and smart footy.

And we're underway in the second half!

41 min: NEWS - Timmins a chance to get back in the game, but Head's injury is very serious according to all reports.

50 min: NEWS - Timmins has made it back on the field as both teams feel each outher out in the early exchanges of the second half.

51 min: TRY - Dragons. Ennis goes himself and scores next to the post following good lead-up work by Hornby. Gorrell is on the field and converts in place of Head. Dragons 12 Cowboys 4.

59 min: TRY - Dragons. Naiqama gets his second try of the game, with Payne and Ennis involved and the ball coming off Young's head at some point. Gorrell converts from right in front. Dragons 18 Cowboys 4.

66 min: TRY - Dragons. Marteene scores off a backline movement for the Dragons, set up well by Timmins, who ironically had a sickening collosion with one another 2 minutes earlier. Gorrell converts. Dragons 24 Cowboys 4.

73 min: TRY - Dragons. Colin Best finishes a great team effort, with touches from Ennis and Marteene, and buries the Cowboys who have been very disappointing today. Gorrell misses the conversion. Dragons 28 Cowboys 4.

NEWS - Crowd: 15,260

80 min: TRY - Dragons. Hornby makes a great break and finds his replacement Clint Greenshields lurking infield who he finds easily and races away. Gorrell converts from in front to complete the rout. Dragons 34 Cowboys 4.

Full time: A great victory from the Dragons here today in their first game at Kogarah this year. Despite both sides being heavily affected by rep duty and injuries, the Dragons pack managed to hold and overcome a bigger Cowboys pack and as a result their backs ran riot, scoring five unanswered second half tries.

----------------------------------------- Leagueunlimited.com players of the match: 3 - B Hornby (Dragons) 2 - L Thompson (Dragons) 1 ? D Young (Dragons) -----------------------------------------