MATCH REPORT
Dominant Dragons blitz sloppy Sea Eagles
Author
Brad Walter Senior Reporter
Timestamp
Sat 16 Jun 2018, 07:13 PM
James Graham ensured he avoided the end-of-season nudie run when he became the last regular member of the St George Illawarra starting line-up to score a try as the Dragons regained outright lead of the Telstra Premiership following a 32-8 defeat of Manly at WIN Stadium.
Graham and utility Kurt Mann, who started his second consecutive match on the wing, were the last of the 15 players who have featured in all 14 matches so far for St George Illawarra to score as the hosts romped to their 11th win of the season.
The victory equals the Dragons best start to a season in 2010, when they won 11 matches in the opening 15 rounds before going on to win the grand final.
Coach Paul McGregor now faces the prospect of up to 10 of his squad playing representative matches next weekend, with Graham and captain Gareth Widdop having been named in the England team to play New Zealand in Denver.
Interchange forward Leeson Ah Mau is also expected to be in the Kiwis team, while Tim Lafai is likely to play for Samoa and winger Nene McDonald for Papua New Guinea.
NSW forwards Jack de Belin, Paul Vaughan and Tyson Frizell came through unscathed and they could be joined in the Blues team by Tariq Sims, while Ben Hunt is expected to again be Queensland halfback.
Widdop kicked a penalty goal to open the scoring for the Dragons in the seventh minute but despite dominating possession and field position it took the home side another 20 minutes before they crossed for their first try.
Match highlights: Dragons v Sea Eagles – Round 15, 2018
In between, the Sea Eagles had looked threatening and Tyson Frizell prevented one try scoring opportunity when Tom Trbojevic passed to him after a long range Manly break, presumably because he had heard a call from his NSW Origin team-mate.
St George Illawarra fullback Matt Dufty saved what would have been a certain try when he held up former team-mate Joel Thompson over the try line and rolled him onto his back to prevent the second rower from getting the ball down.
A 22nd minute Trent Hodkinson penalty goal levelled the scores at 2-2 but the Dragons replied with the first try of the game just five minutes later when Dufty stepped inside Manly winger Akuila Uate and threw a cut out pass for Kurt Mann to score in the corner.
Dragons centre Tim Lafai put his side further ahead in the 31st minute when he raced down the blindside from dummy half and stepped around Brad Parker, who had come on as a replacement after Moses Suli left the field with a sternum injury.
Yet despite a first half completion rate of 95 per cent and boasting a 59 per cent share possession, the home team led just 10-8 after 20-year-old Manly utility Tom Wright dummied past Widdop and sprinted clear to score his first NRL try in the 35th minute.
Manly young gun Tom Wright.
Gregg Porteous/NRL PhotosA try by Tariq Sims in the seconds before halftime gave the Dragons a 16-8 lead at the interval and they took control in the second half to give their fans in the 13,069 crowd reason to celebrate.
Widdop scored in the 46th minute after pouncing on a grubber from halfback Ben Hunt into the Sea Eagles in goal and England team-mate James Graham scored his first try in the Red V jersey when he forced his way over 10 minutes later.
Graham's try came after Jack de Belin picked up a loose ball near his own try line and raced into the clear before being pulled down 50 metres down field.
Handling errors hurt Manly and they completed just 10 of their 19 sets of possession in the second half, while missing 31 tackles.
Dragons winger Nene McDonald completed a comprehensive 32-8 win for his team when he scored off a Hunt kick in the 72nd minute.
https://www.dragons.com.au/news/2018/06/16/dominant-dragons-blitz-sloppy-sea-eagles/
