Bulldogs bury listless Dragons - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Bulldogs bury listless Dragons

By Steve Jancetic 19/04/2008 08:31:02 PM Comments (0)

St George Illawarra's NRL season of disappointment reached new lows with the Bulldogs pulverising an inept Dragons 30-18 at ANZ Stadium.

Two tries in the final nine minutes meant the scoreboard flattered the Dragons as a dominant Dogs ended a two-game losing streak on the back of doubles from Tim Winitana and Matt Utai.

A 10-minute period midway through the first half summed up not only game, but the Dragons' season - the red and whites capitulating in a barrel of errors and ill-discipline.

With the Dragons up 6-4 after Utai and Chase Stanley had traded early four pointers, a Beau Scott dropped ball on the halfway line was compounded by a Rangi Chase offside penalty.

On the resulting set Winitana, having been harshly denied by the video referee just moments earlier, scored his first of the night to restore the Bulldogs lead on the half hour.

Two minutes later Simon Woolford dropped the ball cold at dummy half, the Bulldogs going over out wide a few tackles later with Utai showing more urgency than the defence to get to a Ben Roberts grubber.

Just to ram home that this would not be St George Illawarra's night, Chase's attempted chip kick after the halftime siren landed straight in the arms of Willie Tonga, the former Test centre going 70 metres for a 20-6 halftime lead.

Nathan Brown's halftime address must not have included a lecture on ball control as the Dragons problems continued after the break, recalled fullback Brett Morris losing the ball as the visitors pressed.

Sonny Bill Williams then sliced through a turnstile defence to set up namesake Danny Williams for a 26-6 advantage after 43 minutes.

Dragons centre Matt Cooper was then contentiously denied a try for a knock on by the video ref, with the Bulldogs making it a 12-point turnaround when Williams showed off his little-used kicking game to lay on Winitana's second.

Suddenly the Dragons found some life and cohesion as Cooper and Simon Woolford crossed in the dying stages, but they never seriously threatened any sort of meaningful comeback.

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