Bulldogs Gallant In Defeat To Tigers

The Canterbury-Bankstown have gone down to the Wests Tigers 22-16 in a gallant effort at CommBank Stadium where they fought right to the end.

Despite a high-energy start from the boys in Blue and White, it was the Tigers who got on the board first after an error inside the Bulldogs’ half handed the opposition a golden opportunity.

Tino Tavana scooped up a loose ball and was away until a superb effort from Jethro Rinakama and Kurt Mann saved a try. The Tigers then spread the ball to the left and Jeral Skelton crossed in the corner. Jock Madden converted the try to take his side to a 6-0 lead.

The Tigers backed that up with a two more tries to extend their lead to 16-0 after Tavana scored off a Jock Madden kick and then Jarome Luai, Kai Pearce-Paul and Jahream Bula linked up with the latter scoring.

The Bulldogs needed to score next and they did exactly that. It all started with a barnstorming run from Sitili Tupouniua, who barged through three Tigers defenders before finding Jacob Kiraz in support. The workhorse fullback shrugged off Alex Seyfarth before stepping Bula to score. Captain Stephen Crichton added the extras to take the score to 16-6.

Cameron Ciraldo’s men looked to be in again following another powerful run and offload from Tupouniua to find Crichton. The skipper charged over the line and was awarded a try by the on-field referee only for the bunker to overturn it.

The Dogs picked up where they left off though after the break with Tupouniua once again wreaking havoc down the right edge before offloading to Enari Tuala, who beat three defenders to score in the corner.

Seven minutes later Josh Curran came up with an unbelievable effort to chargedown a Luai kick and run 40 metres to score – however it was contentiously overruled by the bunker after it was deemed he made minor contact with Luai’s leg.

A penalty for that incident helped the Tigers march down the other end of the field and score via Jeral Skelton, despite there being question marks over whether Sunia Turuva – who took out Jacob Kiraz – was off-side or not. Madden missed the conversion but did add an extra two points thanks to a penalty goal four minutes later to take the score to 22-10.

The Bulldogs fought back to narrow the gap to 22-16 with Lachlan Galvin burrowing over from dummy-half to score and Crichton converting to seal the final score.

The Bulldogs will now reset and get ready for the annual King’s Birthday clash with the Parramatta Eels at Accor Stadium.