St George Illawarra have defeated the Wests Tigers thanks to a late Zac Lomax penalty goal at Commbank Stadium on Sunday, finishing 24-22 after trailing most of the afternoon.
The final moments saw a Lomax break stifled by the Tigers cover defence, but in that defence, which led to Lomax being taken in touch, Kepaoa hit Lomax high. On a Bunker review, Kepaoa was penalised and sin binned, allowing Lomax to pot the two points and the Red V to sneak home.
It was the visitors who got proceedings off to a better start, a Jaydn Su'A try on seven minutes seeing the Dragons ahead 6-0 early.
After their early efforts though, they unravelled and the Tigers eventually took advantage. A brain snap in a Tigers try-scoring situation by Saints fullback Cody Ramsey saw him sin binned at the 19th minute, during which the home side scored back-to-back tries through Thomas Freebairn and Nu Brown, snaring a 12-6 lead.
Things got worse after Ramsey's 29th-minute return - Jack Bird was penalised for a dangerous tackle on Daine Laurie eight minutes before halftime, dissented and gave up ten metres on the play, then kept dissenting. Liam Kennedy had no trouble making him the second sin binned player of the contest and the Tigers again took advantage, Freebairn crossing for his second of the afternoon.
Trailing 16-6 at the break, the Red V made amends shortly after play resumed, Tautau Moga dotting down out wide and the margin narrowing to six.
Closer to the hour-mark, Zac Lomax thought he'd scored to narrow the score further, but was denied by the video referee who identified a knock-on in the contest for a Ben Hunt kick. He would cross minutes later anyway, taking advantage of lax defence from the hosts and with his conversion, levelling proceedings at 16-all.
The Tigers managed to turn momentum back their way with a superb individual try to Jock Madden, who turned defenders inside-out on a clever run to score and put the home team back ahead 22-16.
Inside the final five minutes, Dragons interchange forward Jackson Ford scored a rare try, Lomax's conversion levelling the scores, before his late penalty goal put them back in the lead for the first time since the 23rd minute, winning them the game.
The loss makes it very difficult for the Tigers to shed the dreaded wooden spoon - which will be all-but confirmed if the Titans can beat Newcastle later today. The Dragons have locked up 10th spot with today's victory and have one match left before heading off on their off-season trips.