The Bulldogs NYC side have had victory snatched from them with an after the siren conversion giving the Dragons a 30-28 victory at ANZ Stadium.
It was six tries to the Bulldogs and five to the Dragons with goal kicking proving to be the difference.
The opening 10 minutes was all the Bulldogs with it seemingly looking like they were playing against no one with the young pups crossing for two tries in the opening seven minutes. Back rower Luis Strickland opened the scoring when he crashed over in the fourth minute and three minutes later winger Marcelo Montoya extended the lead in the south-east corner. Fullback Josh Bergamin couldn’t convert either and the early lead was 8-nil after seven minutes.
With all the possession and on the attack for the opening exchanges it was not until the 13th minute that the Dragons had the ball in a commanding position. They didn’t disappoint their fans, with Matheson Johns scoring in the 14th minute. Jai Field converted with the score now 8-6.
Montoya doubled his tally in the 25th minute and Bergamin converted to extend the lead out to 14-6.
The Dragons added to their earlier try and crossed in the 34th minute through Izaac Thompson and Field again converted with the Bulldogs holding on to a slim 14-12 lead.
It was a great result for the young pups when Kiko Manu scored just before the half-time siren. In similar style to the Bulldogs second try, the ball was shifted to the left and Manu cruised over to score. The try couldn’t be converted with the Bulldogs taking a 18-12 lead.
The second half started with a lot of end to end footy but with neither side being able to convert it into points. It wasn’t until the 55th minute when Bergamin showed a good turn of pace off the back of slick backline movement out to the right and eventually going over to score. He couldn’t convert his own try from our wide with the scoreboard now reading 22-12.
The tide shifted and with two sets on the Dragons line it looked as though more points were coming for the pups but they came at the other end with Dragons fullback Matt Dufty running 90m untouched to score in the 67th minute. Off the back of a penalty, winger Reuben Garrick scored three minutes later in the south-west corner and when Field converted from out wide, the Dragons had hit the lead for the first time in the match, 24-22, with eight minutes left on the clock.
Three minutes later halfback Lachlan Lewis picked up a loose ball to score under the posts which was converted by Bergamin and the lead was snatched back by the Bulldogs, 28-24.
With the 36 seconds left on the clock the victory was snatched from the pups when Garrick pounced on a grubber and scored his second of the afternoon. Field had the conversion attempt from 10m in from the sideline and slotted it straight over the black dot, as he had done all afternoon, to steal victory 30-28.
DRAGONS 30 (Garrick 2, Johns, Thompson, Dufty Tries; Field 5 Goals)
Def.
BULLDOGS 28 (Montoya 2, Strickland, Manu, Bergamin, Lewis Tries; Bergamin 2 Goals)
At: ANZ Stadium
