It was a classic Friday Night NRL billing, the Wests Tigers on a hot streak against the misfiring Bulldogs at the SFS. The Dogs eventually won 24-4.
But for a cracker match, it didn’t disappoint.
You could see the determination in the Bulldogs from the kickoff. Kevin Moore obviously had his troops revved up and the Belmore boys enjoyed a good majority of possession in the first stanza. 60 percent possession to be exact, but they couldn’t only manage 6 points.
The Tigers who aren’t usually known for their defence, really aimed up. Even young Blake Lazarus who was wearing the no.7 jersey and defending on the fringe was looking like a veteran, pulling off amazing last ditch tackles to save tries.
It seemed like Wests defended for the whole first 40 minutes. They had only managed to be tackled in the opposition 20m zone less then 4 times for the half.
You got the feeling that the Bulldogs might get frustrated at being constantly turned away, but this wasn’t the case.
In the second period, the Bulldogs continued their assault on the Tigers left edge. Wave after wave came, but it took an eternity for the Tigers defence to really crack.
Ennis was the instigator, in just one of the many battles in this game – Ennis up against Farah, Folkes up against the Dogs, Battle of the Dreads – Idris vs Lote – it was on for everyone.
Ennis sparked the Dogs in attack, getting four pointers for himself and laying on others for his team mates – it was the Ennis of old, full of mongrel and constantly probing.
But once the Dogs got rolling, they seemed to gain their old confidence back. Had some more passes stuck, this game could have ended up even more of a one sided affair.
The Tigers did really miss Moltzen tonight, Beau Ryan was impressive at fullback – but the creativity and alternate option of Moltzen in the halves was not to be found. Lote Tiquiri was again impressive with limited chances, scoring a try and keeping the Tigers in with a chance.
The Wests forward pack were guilty at times of some soft centre field defence, this is probably to be expected given the weight of possession against them. Plenty of missed tackles by the games end.
The result gives a desperate Canterbury a leg up, and keeps the fast starting Tigers in check with the lower teams on the ladder for now.