MATCH REPORT
Dragons stage great escape to beat Eels
Author
Brad Walter Senior Reporter
Timestamp
Thu 28 Jun 2018, 09:47 PM
St George Illawarra halfback Ben Hunt overcame his State of Origin demons to inspire a great escape by the NRL competition leaders against last-placed Parramatta at WIN Stadium on Thursday night.
The Dragons scored two tries in three minutes to snatch a 20-18 win after it had appeared that Origin and the representative round would take its toll on a team which has been at the top of the Telstra Premiership ladder since the opening round.
Like most of his teammates, Hunt was flat and the Queensland halfback's kicking game was below his usual standards for large parts of the game. But he produced a try for centre Euan Aitken that kick-started the team just six minutes before fulltime.
With Aitken pouncing on the perfectly weighted grubber to put the Dragons back in the game trailing 18-14, fullback Matt Dufty then secured the win when he dived on a kick from captain Gareth Widdop in the 76th minute.
Hunt and Widdop were among seven St George Illawarra players backing up from the representative weekend, with forwards Paul Vaughan, Jack de Belin and James Graham also playing their second game in five days, while Tyson Frizell and Leeson Ah Mau were rested.
NSW Origin forward Paul Vaughan will have a nervous wait to see how the match review committee views his tripping of Eels forward David Gower.
Vaughan was placed on report and a grade one charge would be a $1,500 fine but grade two would mean two matches. The Blues team for Origin III at Suncorp Stadium on July 11 will be named next week.
The Eels dominated the opening exchanges but failed to capitalise after inexcusable errors by forwards Nathan Brown and Daniel Alvaro, who both lost possession attempting to play the ball metres from the try line.
Eels lock Nathan Brown.
Grant Trouville/NRL Photos
The first time the Dragons got near the same position they came away with the first points of the game after captain Gareth Widdop kicked a 14th minute field goal.
Parramatta had another missed opportunity when winger Bevan French knocked on attempting to intercept a pass from Widdop to centre Tim Lafai midway through the first half, while hooker Cameron King had to dodge three teammates to kick out of dummy half.
Widdop also failed to finish an early try-scoring opportunity, when he put down a pass from Nene Macdonald with the line wide open. But the Dragons kick-chase game kept the Eels under pressure and it appeared only a matter of time before the home team scored.
Instead it was Parramatta who got the first try of the match in the 24th minute after veteran prop Tim Mannah beat Jeremy Latimore and pushed off Jack de Belin to make a long range break before drawing Dufty to send French racing away off a pass that appeared forward.
Brown crossed six minutes later after running into a hole created by five-eighth Corey Norman to put the Eels ahead 12-2.
However, Dufty put St George Illawarra back into the game by finishing a spectacular try three minutes before halftime after Lafai made a break on his own 40 metre line and linked with Macdonald, who kicked infield.
Widdop outleapt Eels fullback Clint Gutherson to tap the ball back to Lafai, who passed to Dufty and the Dragons fullback raced over the try line to score.
Gareth Widdop and Clint Gutherson.
Grant Trouville/NRL Photos
If St George Illawarra fans, who had braved the wet and cold conditions in Wollongong, had expected their team to kick into gear in the second term they would have been disappointed as mistakes crept in the Dragons game.
A Jarryd Hayne try in the 48th minute extended Parrmatta's lead to 18-8 and a huge upset was suddenly on the cards.
Interchange forward Luciano Leilua appeared to have got the Dragons back in the game 12 minutes before fulltime when he forced his way over the Eels line. But video referee Ashley Klein ruled that he had failed to ground the ball - due to Jarryd Hayne's hand underneath - and disallowed the try.
However, the Dragons couldn't be denied when Aitkin pounced on the Hunt grubber and Dufty scored his second for the game and ninth for the season.
News & Notes: St George Illawarra had six players backing up from representative games last weekend.... forwards Tyson Frizell and Leeson Ah Mauwas rested... Bevan French has now scored six tries in his past four games against the Dragons... Prop James Graham played his 150th NRL game.
Dufty finishes freakish Dragons try
https://www.dragons.com.au/news/2018/06/28/dragons-stage-great-escape-to-beat-eels/
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