The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs NYC side have this evening been defeated by the St George Illawarra Dragons 52-18 at ANZ Stadium.
It was a convincing first half performance by the men in the red v with a 32-6 half-time lead being held, something that the Bulldogs just couldn’t come back from.
There was just one change to the side named earlier in the week with Darcy Maroske elevated into the Intrust Super Premiership side with Bailey Simonsson the replacement in the front row.
The first half was all the Dragons with the first four-pointer being scored by the Red v in just the third minute of play. That was just the start with the Dragons scoring at more than a point a minute in the opening quarter with the visitors running out to a 26-nil lead after 23 minutes.
Winger Paora Kemp opened the scoring before Izaac Thompson scored the first of his two tries in the 10th minute, five-eighth Jai Field went over in the 13th, Dufty got his first of two tries in the 18th, Thompson in the 22nd and Dufty again in the 37th.
The young pups got a bit of confidence back a minute before the break when winger Jake Gleeson slid through for their first try in the north-eastern corner. Five-eighth Adam Keighran converted it beautifully from the sideline with the scoreboard reading 32-6 at the half-time break.
The second half started in similar fashion to the first with the Dragons scoring the first two tries of the half through Field and Dufty.
It wasn’t until the 60th minute that Bailey Simonsson scored the Bulldogs second try of the night and Keighran again converted to make the scoreboard look a little more respectable.
Two further tries to the Dragons got them to the half-century but a D’Rhys Miller try in the 78th minute and a third conversion to Keighran will give the young pups some reason to come back next week.
Dragons 52 (Dufty 3, Thompson 2, Kemp 2, Field 2, Herbert Tries; Field 6 Goals)
Def.
Bulldogs 18 (Gleeson, Simonsson, Miller Tries; Keighran 3 Goals)
