Winning in the wet proves no worries for Newcastle

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Newcastle Knights v St George Illawarra Dragons

The weather was wet but that didn't stop the Newcastle Knights from grinding out a 30-10 win over the St George Illawarra Dragons at home.

On a night that saw both sides brave torrential rain from start to finish, the Knights sealed their second win of the season in front of a small, yet hearty crowd of 9,448 supporters at McDonald Jones Stadium.

Taking advantage of multiple penalties inside their own half, the Knights struck an early blow with recalled halfback Jackson Hastings (4th minute) swooping on a Jack Cogger grubber kick to open the scoring.

The Dragons responded with Ben Hunt laying on a well-placed kick of his own for Zac Lomax (14th minute) to touch down out wide; the duo combined again moments later with Lomax executing a spectacular flick pass for Hunt (21st minute) to put the visitors in front for the only time during proceedings.

Capitalising on the poor discipline of their opponents, the Knights regained the lead with Kalyn Ponga delivering a precision pass to send Enari Tuala (25th minute) over in the corner.

Gaining the ascendancy with Daniel Saifiti (29th minute) swooping on a Cogger kick that landed in a pool of water in-goal, the Knights established a double-digit buffer with Dylan Lucas (35th minute) sliding over for a 24-10 lead at the break.

Appearing to go further in front after the resumption only for the bunker to rule a knock-on against Bradman Best in the act of scoring, the Dragons were left to rue a missed opportunity of their own with Lomax unable to hold onto an inside pass from Luciano Leilua with the try line in sight.

The Knights looked to secure the result with Leo Thompson diving through the legs of Phoenix Crossland only for the bunker to rule the front-rower had obstructed the Dragons goal-line defence.

Sealing only their sixth win from 24 meetings against the joint venture at McDonald Jones Stadium, Tuala raced down the touchline and kicked in-field for Ponga (73rd minute) to slide over for the only try of the second half.

Next week, the Knights will host the Roosters in Newcasle on Thursday night, while the Dragons will travel to Campbelltown to take on the Tigers on Sunday afternoon.