Wests Tigers into NRL grand final
September 24, 2005 -
8:55PM
Wests Tigers fairytale run continued on Saturday night when they became the first team to qualify for this year's NRL grand final with a 20-12 win over a disappointing St George Illawarra outfit in their preliminary final clash at Aussie Stadium.
The joint venture outfit led all the way in securing a four-tries-to-two victory, with the black-and-gold contingent of the 41,260 strong crowd sent into raptures following the fulltime siren.
While the Tigers continued to play the simple brand of football which has seen them surprise North Queensland and Brisbane already this finals series, the Dragons were well blow par, turnovers proving costly just when they looked like getting back in the game.
The Tigers got off to the perfect start, with five-eighth Benji Marshall going over in the fourth minute following a knock-on from Dragons winger Colin Best inside his own 20m zone.
The Dragons, looking off pace and out of sync following their one week layoff, struggled to mount any real pressure on the Tigers, with referee Tim Mander denying them their best tryscoring opportunity when he called back a flying Matt Cooper due to an offside in the lead-up play.
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http://www.smh.com.au/news/Sport/Wests-Tigers-into-NRL-grand-final/2005/09/24/1126982270046.html
