Tigers topple Dragons

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Wests Tigers v St George Illawarra Dragons

Despite the sluggish, and later wet, conditions, both sides were more than keen to throw the ball around and were scoring points aplenty.

The scoring opened in the sixth minute when Kyle Flanagan sent a short, flat ball in the line to Dylan Egan, who hit a gap near the Tigers line and he went in to score. Valentine Holmes converted.

The Tigers hit back four minutes later when Jarome Luai sent a pass to Lachlan Galvin, who perfectly tapped it along to Charlie Staines and the winger sneaked in down the narrow passage to score. Adam Doueihi converted from the sideline.

Four more minutes later the Dragons replied when Holmes threw a dummy and split the defence. Holmes got down to the Tigers line where he was tackled by Sunia Turuva, but Holmes rolled over and scored. Holmes failed to convert his try.

The Tigers scored in the 20th minute after they put it through the hands with some precise draw and passing before Turuva gets space and he dived low to avoid the cover defence, scoring in the right corner. Doueihi converted.

Eight minutes later the Tigers extended their lead when Doueihi contested and caught a Luai bomb, popped a ball back to Samuela Fainu, who then quickly sent it along to Staines who scored in the corner. Doueihi failed to convert.

On the 33rd minute Luai ran to the line, shaped to pass and then grubbered. Fainu followed through and forced the ball for a try. Doueihi missed the relatively easy shot at goal.

The final minute of the half looked almost certainly like the Dragons were about to score, when Jayden Su'A was about to dive over for a try when his knee bumped the ball out of his grasp. Jahream Bula collected the loose ball in his own in-goal and then ran the length of the field to score at the other end. Doueihi converted and at the break the Tigers were up 26-10.

The Dragons struck first in the second half when Jacob Liddle burrowed over from dummy half. Holmes converted. Three minutes later Liddle crossed again and Holmes converted. In five minutes the Dragons went from trailing by 16 to trailing by 4.

An Adam Doueihi penalty goal in the 61st minute extended the Tigers lead to 6. 

The Dragons had a few near opportunities but poor execution cost them. The Tigers then extended their lead further in the 70th minute when Doueihi grubbered, regathered, scored and even converted.

The Dragons didn't stop fighting though and crossed in the 78th minute when Hamish Stewart skipped out of a tackle to score. Holmes converted, however the Dragons ran out of time to score again. The Tigers hanging on to win 34-28.