Tigers hold off brave Bulldogs in Bankwest thriller

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Wests Tigers v Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs

The Wests Tigers have kept their season alive with a 29-28 victory over the Canterbury Bulldogs at Bankwest Stadium. A Luke Brooks field goal is all that separated the two sides at full-time as Wests climb to the all familiar ninth position on the ladder, whilst Canterbury missed their chance to get off the bottom of the ladder. 

The Tigers started off the game fast with a try to Moses Mbye, who converted his own try for an early 6-0 lead. Nick Meaney crossed for the Bulldogs as they responded eight minutes later to level the scores at six a piece. 

The game was locked for only six more minutes as some footwork and an offload from David Nofoaluma saw Luke Garner cross for a try, as the Tigers took the lead again at 12-6. Wests went on a bit of a run after this, with Nofoaluma strolling over untouched soon after. Then, Luke Garner crossed for a double after a Benji Marshall kick took a deflection in his favour, taking the score out to 22-6 after the Mbye conversion. 

Just as the game looked to be getting away from the Dogs, they responded in quick fashion. Marcelo Montoya went over for a try five minutes from half-time after a nice pass out of dummy-half from Kieran Foran. Then, three minutes before half-time, some more Kieran Foran magic opened up the Tigers defence as he laid off a pass to debutant Matt Doorey who went over the line under the sticks. The score at half-time quickly went from doom and gloom for the blue and whites to only a 22-16 deficit. 

After some early pressure was sustained for the Bulldogs, they picked up where they left off fifteen minutes into the second half, after a break from Jeremy Marshall-King saw AidenTolman go over for his second try of the season, a play that levelled the scores at 22-22. 

Another offload from Marshall-King thirteen minutes later saw Kerrod Holland go over for his first try of the season and for the first time in the game, the Dogs had the lead. Holland converted his own try to take the score to 22-28. 

Canterbury halfback Jack Cogger attempted to seal the game with a field goal, but it went wide and over the dead ball line, gifting the Tigers a seven tackle set. Wests capitalised on the opportunity and levelled the game with a Joey Leilua try and a Moses Mbye conversion from out wide.

Then, the game became a field goal shootout. Benji Marshall and Jack Cogger both missed attempts to take a one point lead, before Tigers five-eighth Luke Brooks sent one sailing over the posts to take the lead at 29-28, ultimately winning the game for the joint venture and keeping their season alive. 

The Bulldogs missed their chance to overtake Brisbane and get themselves off the bottom of the ladder, which will leave them disappointed that they couldn't close this one out. On the other hand, the Tigers have kept their season alive with a win this afternoon. The Tigers will take on the injury-hit Sydney Roosters next week, whilst Canterbury will play the Warriors.