Wests Tigers headed into Magic Round off the back of a stunning win, while the Dragons were looking to overcome their winless record at the event.
Result
Wests Tigers 18
Tries: Starford To’a 13th; David Nofoaluma 21st; Junior Tupou 64th
Goals: Brandon Wakeham 6th, 15th, 23rd
St George-Illawarra Dragons 16
Tries: Mikaele Ravalawa 9th; Jayden Sullivan 31st, 52nd
Goals: Jayden Sullivan 33rd, 54th
Report
The Wests Tigers was dealt a blow in the warmup with John Bateman suffering a hamstring injury.
After their surprise win against the Panthers in Bathurst last week, the Tigers were looking to record consecutive victories for the first time since April 23 last year.
Anthony Griffin’s Dragons were under pressure coming into the match but took an early lead with Mikaele Ravalawa scoring the opening try.
For the majority of the first half the Tigers had the better field position to lead 14-4 with scores to Starford To’a and David Nofoaluma recording his 101st career try.
However, Brandon Wakeham’s failure to find touch after 30 minutes saw Jayden Sullivan breach the Tigers defence to score and reduce the lead to four points at the break.
The Dragons went ahead fourteen minutes into the final forty when Sullivan struck once more with some slick stepping to score. They looked in control of the match until one play changed the game.
The Tigers snatched back the lead with sixteen minutes remaining. It all started with a short dropout from Wakeham finding touch and finished with Junior Tupou powering over the line to score.
It was a grandstand finish with the Dragons almost taking the game away from the Tigers. A wild pass to Ben Hunt was kicked through and ended with Moses Suli finding Ravalawa who went for the corner but lost the ball before the line.
Wests Tigers now join the Dragons and North Queensland Cowboys on six competition points with their second win of the season.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR POINTS
Embed from Getty Images3 – Brandon Wakeham (Tigers)
2 – Jayden Sullivan (Dragons)
1 – Alex Twal (Tigers)
