Dragons Finally Breathe Fire

The St George-Illawarra Dragons have caused a major upset tonight by easily defeating the league leading Newcastle Knights 38-12 in front of 23,356 fanatical Novocastrians at Energy Australia Stadium.

After suffering a 54-6 drubbing at the hands of the Knights just seven weeks ago many thought that the visitors would be looking at a similar score line this time around, but with the return of international prop Luke Bailey and some inspired play from five eighth Trent Barrett and centre Mark Gasnier the Dragons were able to crush Newcastle in a seven tries to two romp.

It looked as though the big crowd packed into the recently refurbished Energy Australia Stadium were going to be in for a treat as both sides went close to opening their accounts in the first few minutes, but that all changed when the Dragons caught fire midway through the first half scoring four tries in a 17 minute period to race to a commanding 20-0 lead.

The first of St George-Illawarra’s tries came somewhat luckily as the lead up play saw three different players kick the ball before an error from Knights fullback Kurt Gidley in his own in goal area gifted a try to Gasnier at the 15 minute mark (4-0).

The Dragons extended their advantage to 10 points 10 minutes later when replacement forward Corey Payne crossed close to the posts and it got worse for Newcastle as from the next set of six interchange player Michael Henderson made a bust down the left hand flank and then found his half back Ben Hornby unmarked on the inside for a great long range try (16-0).

Payne continued the Knights misery in the 32nd minute when he scored his second try of the night after he was the recipient of a magnificent Gasnier flick pass (20-0).

Thankfully for Newcastle they were able to post some points before the half time siren with superstar half back Andrew Johns stepping past one defender and then dragging another two across the line to score shortly before the main interval and give the home side a sniff of a comeback in the second half (20-6).

The Knights revival was short lived though as Dragons replacement player Danny Wicks stormed over the line in the 51st minute with his first touch of the ball to put the result beyond doubt.

Barrett rubbed salt into Newcastle’s wounds in the 64th minute when he scored a well worked try and then Hornby capped off a great night for St George-Illawarra four minutes later when he somewhat dubiously scored his second try after seeming to be yards offside when he chased down a well placed grubber from Barrett (38-6).

The Knights managed to score a late try though Kurt Gidley in the 75th minute, but in the end it was little consolation as the heavy loss saw them drop to third on the NRL ladder.

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