The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs have defeated the Newcastle Knights 28-0 in their final match of the Pre-season Challenge – and will now turn their attention to the Round 1 Las Vegas extravaganza.
Coach Cameron Ciraldo named an almost full-strength side with Captain Stephen Crichton, Viliame Kikau and Lachlan Galvin among the 25-man squad that took the field at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday evening.
The Dogs set the tone early with a strong start as they shot out a 10-0 lead after scoring two tries in four minutes.
It all started with a brilliant one-on-one tackle by star second-rower Viliame Kikau that forced a Knights error. The Fijian powerhouse was involved again as he delivered the final pass to set up Jonathan Su’a for the first try of the match.
Su’a then backed up his try minutes later with a superb cross-field kick that bounced up perfectly for Matt Burton to score behind the posts.
That’s unfortunately where Burton’s night came to an end though with the five-eighth leaving the field not long after due to a hamstring injury, which he will have scans on.
Match: Knights v Bulldogs
Round 2 -
home Team
Knights
15th Position
away Team
Bulldogs
4th Position
Venue: McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle
The Bulldogs extended their lead prior to half-time after Sitili Tupouniua and Jaeman Salmon seamlessly linked up, with the latter crossing under the posts, untouched.
Kikau crashed over for a well-deserved try in the second half before train-and-trial player Cooper Toy scooped up a loose ball and scored a 50-metre try to put an exclamation point on the win.
While there were a number of highlights with ball in hand, it's the work in defence that will please Ciraldo most with a number of players coming up with try-savers as the clock wound down.
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 28 (Su'a, Burton, Salmon, Kikau, Toy tries; Crichton 2, Burton 2 goals) def Newcastle Knights 0
