The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs have gone down to the Wests Tigers 28-14 in wet and wild conditions at CommBank Stadium.
The scene was set before a ball was even kicked with a loud Bulldogs chant overtaking the stadium when Cameron Ciraldo’s men ran out.
Despite kicking off, the Dogs found themselves in prime field position seconds into the game after the Tigers knocked on in the first tackle. Enari Tuala was on the spot to scoop it up and put his side on the attack.
The Bulldogs peppered the Tigers’ line and got over twice – only for both to be ruled a no try. Captain Stephen Crichton slid over in the first minute, however the bunker deemed that he was held up. Tuala then crossed off a neat flick pass from Jacob Kiraz after but the referee called the ball forward.
The Tigers were able to march themselves down to the other side of the field with the help of an off-side penalty and made the most of their opportunity with Jeral Skelton scoring the first try of the game in the 13th minute.
They backed it up five minutes later with a combined 95-metre effort from Adam Doueihi - who was a late switch to halfback - and try-scorer Jahream Bula.
The Tigers extended their lead to 14-0 after Api Koroisau put in a grubber for Skelton to bag his second of the afternoon.
Another try came three minutes later when Doueihi scooped up a loose ball and ran 85 metres to score, before converting his own try.
With the clock winding down in the first half, the Dogs needed something - and their captain delivered as Crichton set up Jacob Preston with a perfectly timed pass.
With the rain teeming down both sides struggled with errors but it was the Bulldogs who scored the first points of the second half. Crichton once again had a had in the try by throwing the final pass that sent Kiraz over.
Both teams later lost a player to a HIA with Bula leaving the field for the Tigers before Bulldogs workhorse Harry Hayes copped a high shot from Alex Seyfarth, who was sin-binned for the tackle.
The Tigers extended their lead by two points after Crichton was penalised and put on report for high contact on Taylan May, who was later ruled out of the game due to a category one HIA.
Six minutes later the Tigers sealed the result when Samuela Fainu scored off a questionable pass from Jarome Luai.
The Bulldogs, however, snuck in one more try before full-time with milestone man Josh Curran showing sheer persistence to charge down a kick, chase it and score under the posts in his 100th NRL game.
Wests Tigers 28 (Skelton 2, Bula, Doueihi, Fainu tries; Doueihi 4/6 goals def Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 14 (Preston, Kiraz, Curran tries; Crichton 1/3 goals)
