Second half surge sees Bulldogs slip past Tigers in spiteful contest

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Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs v Wests Tigers

A 16-0 second half from Canterbury has led to a 22-14 come-from-behind victory over Wests Tigers at Accor Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

After last week's disappointing showing against Brisbane, it was the Tigers who started strongly at Accor Stadium. Absorbing the early weight of possession and territory Canterbury had, the Tigers opened the scoring through a 14th minute penalty goal to Aidan Sezer following a high tackle.

From the ensuing kickoff the Tigers cut loose, Jahream Bula found Brent Naden, who drew the last defender and gave Charlie Staines a rails run to the line for the first try of the contest in the right corner.

Sezer's conversion put the visitors 8-0 up and forced the Bulldogs to tighten up their defensive line. By the 23rd minute the Dogs had swung momentum their way and Kurt Mann poked through a yawning gap in the Tigers' line.

The visitors weren't happy with Canterbury being within two points, so it was only four minutes later the eight-point buffer was restored, Fonua Pole crashing across - just - just a few plays after a successful captains challenge he brought forward to keep his side in possession near Canterbury's line.

The Wests Tigers held the eight-point advantage from there til halftime. The only notable incident for the remainder of the half saw Bulldogs hooker Reed Mahoney put on report for a dangerous throw.

As the siren sounded for the change of ends, Canterbury did try some enterprising play which would be a harbinger for what was to come after the break - a Burton chip finding Josh Addo-Carr, who grubbered after running out of room, only for Xerri to be beaten to the ball by a steaming Charlie Staines to save the day.

The urgency wasn't there for the Tigers after the break, though. The Bulldogs were on the board with their second time just five minutes after the break through Josh Curran, who pounced on a Drew Hutchison grubber.

Two penalty goals in five minutes then moved the needle from 12-14 to 16-14 for the home team, then Bronson Xerri got on the end of a Burton line break to push the margin out to eight points once converted.

Several points of controversy came out of the contest - Mahoney's spear tackle, a Sezer hip-drop around the 55th minute and a pair of sin-bins just minutes from fulltime which saw the Tigers reduced to 11 players late in the contest. David Klemmer will likely see a fine for contrary conduct while Alex Seyfarth may have headbutted Viliame Kikau in the aftermath of Klemmer's sin-bin for dissent and face some kind of charges as well.

In terms of outcomes, the 22-14 win for the 'Dogs sees them move to 4-4 after nine rounds (one bye) and confirm a top eight spot for a second week running - the Tigers languish in 15th place with not a lot to show for their clear improvement so far in 2024.

Canterbury have a crunch match with Penrith next Friday at Bluebet Stadium where they'll get to cut their teeth on a high-quality opponent, while the Tigers travel up the New England to host the Knights at Scully Park in Tamworth.