St George Illawarra rose from the lifeless to upset Penrith 22-10 on Saturday evening and whereas the premiers had 5 gamers on State of Origin responsibility, that’s no excuse because the Dragons had been additionally with out three consultant stars.
Having fun with extra of the ball and in additional attacking positions, the house aspect bought away to a 10-0 benefit after a sluggish opening 40 minutes within the moist at BlueBet Stadium however the tide turned quickly after half-time because the Dragons got here out of the sheds all weapons blazing after copping a rev-up from coach Shane Flanagan.
Lacking talisman Ben Hunt in addition to Zac Lomax and Jaydn Su’A, St George Illawarra’s assault was meandering at finest early on with a number of fifth-tackle choices falling flat.
However after an unconvincing begin, Jesse Marschke’s affect on the sport grew and he created the Dragons’ second strive scored by Tyrell Sloan.
Penrith, who had been lacking Dylan Edwards, Liam Martin, Isaah Yeo, Jarome Luai and Brian To’o, seemed to be snug however began to lose management of the competition because the Dragons forwards began to roll via and Marschke and Kyle Flanagan started to make artistic inroads.
When Izack Tago blocked Kyle Flanagan’s path illegally with 12 minutes to go a penalty was deemed adequate, to the Dragons’ bewilderment, as a visit to the sin-bin for the Panthers centre appeared seemingly however the Dragons prolonged their lead quickly after via Mathew Feagai.
Marschke was at it once more, this time helping a Raymond Faitala-Mariner four-pointer to seal the 2 competitors factors.
The Panthers couldn’t muster some extent within the second half with their restricted possession as St George Illawarra accomplished a formidable comeback on the foot of the mountains.
(Picture by Jason McCawley/Getty Photographs)
Dragons reply in fashion after poor first half
Ranging from the very first carry of the second half, when rookie winger Sione Finau beat a number of defenders and made 50 metres, the Dragons had been a very completely different crew following half-time. Flanagan should have delivered a particular spray as his aspect stormed into the lead with two tries in seven minutes.
Abruptly it was Ivan Cleary’s aspect displaying an absence of self-discipline, freely giving penalties and six-agains near their line, permitting the Dragons prime attacking alternatives.
St George Illawarra’s forwards saved rolling via, offloading at will, an entire 180 of the primary half because the errors simply saved flowing from the opposite finish.
The Panthers opened the scoring by way of a gentle attempt to Izack Tago and the spotlight of their performances was an outstanding end by teenage winger Jesse McLean.
A towering bomb got here down simply contained in the sideline however McLean latched onto it and absorbed the heavy contact of Sloan’s deal with to attain a scintillating strive.
The loss means Penrith missed the possibility to leapfrog Melbourne and Cronulla into high spot whereas the Dragons have squared their season file at 6-6 to be on the perimeter of the highest eight.
Leota
