NRL Round 25: Tigers 24, Dolphins 23

The Wests Tigers have beaten the Dolphins in a close match up in the early Saturday game.

Result

Wests Tigers 24
Tries: (4) Fonua Pole 13th; Asu Kepaoa 22nd; Alex Seyfarth 53rd; Jake Simpkin 56th.
Goals: (4) Apisai Koroisau 15th, 24th, 58th, 76th

The Dolphins 23
Tries: (4) Jamayne Isaako 17th; Euan Aitken 26th; Jack Bostock 43rd; Trai Fuller 62nd.
Goals: (3) Jamayne Isaako 18th, 64th, 67th

One-Point Field Goals: (1) Jamayne Isaako 74th

Report

The Tigers had the home ground advantage on a sunny Saturday afternoon, but the teams could not have been more evenly matched throughout the first half of play. Both teams fielded debutants for this match up, with Triston Reilly starting his NRL debut with the Tigers and Trai Fuller for The Dolphins.

The 17th-placed Tigers got the ball rolling through Fonua Pole, after a knock back from a nice Api Koroisau kick, after just shy of 15 minutes of play. The Dolphins hit back pretty much immediately afterwards, with Jamayne Isaako on the receiving end of a nice passage of play to stroll over on the edge. Asu Kepaoa put Wests back in the lead not long after following a neat passage of ‘eyes up’ football, just before Sean O’Sullivan busted through a hole in the defence and palmed the ball off to Euan Aitken to grab The Dolphins’ second of the day. Going into halftime, only two points separated the sides, with the Tigers holding onto a slim 12-10 lead.

Jack Bostock got the scoring back underway only minutes following the beginning of the second half, giving The Dolphins the lead for the first time in the match. In line with the pattern starting to form in this game, Wests got their own back 10 minutes later, with Reilly finding space that would set up Alex Seyfarth to crash through the defence and over the line for his second NRL try.

Jake Simpkin crossed over once again for the Tigers only minutes later, before Fuller grabbed a try on debut. Going into the pointy end of the match, The Dolphins would kick a penalty goal and a one-point field goal in quick concession to give them a 23-22 lead; but with four minutes left to play, the Tigers also got the opportunity to kick for goal, which gave them the one-point advantage and the victory, with scores standing at 24-23 at fulltime.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR POINTS

3 – Asu Kepaoa (Tigers)
2 – Jamayne Isaako (Dolphins)
1 – Apisai Koroisau (Tigers)