The Wests Tigers have secured their first win of 2021 with a close 20-24 win over the Newcastle Knights at McDonald Jones Stadium.
Newcastle will be kicking themselves after errors ultimately cost them the game this afternoon. The Tigers on the other hand, would be delighted to have their first two points of the season and avoid an 0-3 start. The win also means that the Tigers were able to spoil the party for Mitchell Pearce's 300th NRL game.
Wests Tigers had all the early opportunity in this one, with an early onslaught on the Newcastle line. The pressure finally payed dividends in the ninth minute with Tommy Talau scoring the first try of the afternoon. Adam Doueihi converted to make it 0-6 in favour of the Tigers, a start not many saw coming.
The Knights answered back in the fifteenth minute through Tex Hoy, who threw a dummy that was fallen for to go over and make the scoreline 4-6. However, the Knights' momentum was short-lived with Adam Doueihi plucking a ball out of the air from a cross-field kick by Luke Brooks. The five-eighth was able to convert his own try and make the score 4-10 in favour of the Tigers.
Newcastle were able to answer back through Mitch Barnett in the thirty-fourth minute, with the back-rower unable to be stopped close to the line. His goal-kicking let him down again though, something that was not reminiscent of his form off the boot in Newcastle's previous game, with Newcastle still trailing 8-12.
Shortly following the break, a nice ball from Luke Brooks saw young Stefano Utoikamanu score his first try in the NRL after beating Tex Hoy to get to the line and give us a glimpse of what he can do.
The Knights answered back in the sixty-second minute after mounting some pressure on the Tigers. A break for Connor Watson off a Daniel Saifiti offload saw Mitchell Pearce go over under the posts in his 300th game and fittingly get the Knights right back in it. The Knights then took the lead for the first time in the game through a try to back-rower Tyson Frizell. The try was Frizell's first in Newcastle colours as Newcastle went up 20-18 following a conversion from Tex Hoy.
The excitement of a lead lasted less than five minutes for Newcastle fans, with David Nofoaluma going over in the right hand corner off a scrum play. This try again followed a Newcastle error, which was the story of their afternoon. Doueihi kept his perfect kicking for the afternoon in tact, with a conversion being landed from the sideline to round out the scoring at 20-24.
The Knights will be disappointed that errors cost them in this one and they will need to fix up the stat of eighteen of them if they are to win against any opposition. They will also be disappointed that they couldn't deliver a win for halfback Mitchell Pearce in his 300th game. They will need to be better against an in form Dragons side next week if they are to do any better.
The Tigers will just be happy to be in the winner's column for the first time this season. They will still need to improve as they shouldn't have let the Knights go anywhere near winning given the amount of errors that were made by their opposition.
Still though, they can build some confidence off a win heading into their traditional Easter Monday clash against the Eels next round.