In what was an uninspiring clash, the Wests Tigers have kept their slim finals hopes alive this afternoon with a win over the Canterbury Bulldogs.
The Tigers beat the Bulldogs 28-16, with the best thing about the victory, for Michael Maguire, being the two competition points.
It was the Tigers who would strike first after a Dylan Napa crusher was called late in a tackle count. Some bright play from the Tigers followed.
Adam Doueihi switched the play back towards the right and found Luke Brooks in support.
He then gave the ball to Jacob Liddle who drifted across field, spotted a gap, and found Luciano Leilua who crashed over.
The lead wasn’t to last long. With barely ten minutes gone, a quick play the ball from Jeremy Marshall-King set Nick Meaney against a backpedaling defence.
Meaney burst through the middle of the ruck and found Jake Averillo in support.
Averillo was caught but his speculative flick pass found Meaney backing up to score.
The Tigers were to retake the lead after 24 minutes, with back-to-back Bulldogs errors yielding field position.
Ken Maumalo got himself one on one with Corey Allan, after a classy long ball from Moses Mbye, and he did enough to score. A conversion from the sideline made it 12-6.
Both sides were guilty of making too many errors, and a Bulldogs scrum base play gone wrong created another opportunity.
A pin-point Brooks cross-field kick was taken by a leaping Maumalo and he had claimed a double.
However, just as you thought the Tigers were in control, the Bulldogs hit back. This time, off a Michael Chee-Kam error, the Bulldogs got a chance.
A quick play the ball play again featured Marshall-King. Averillo got a good ball away to Corey Waddell who ran a great line to score.
The margin was reduced to six points at halftime.
Whatever Trent Barrett said at halftime, it didn’t have the desired effect.
Ava Seumanufagai knocked on in the first play from the kickoff.
The resulting block play penalty from a Tigers’ bomb extended the Tigers’ lead to beyond a converted try.
Perhaps still on the back foot from the early error, the Bulldogs conceded again with thirty minutes left in the game.
Doueihi aimed his kick at the Tigers’ right edge and Tommy Talau launched himself to score. The Tigers lead 26-12.
The Bulldogs came again but, as has been the case so often this year, poor discipline and errors hurt them.
Jack Hetherington’s concession of a penalty whilst on attack appeared to burst the Bulldogs’ bubble.
Both sides were struggling to generate much in attack until an Allan try reduced the margin to ten with fifteen minutes remaining.
A smart second-man play and crafty pass from Will Hopoate created the chance.
That was as close as they got, with a series of Bulldogs errors killing any momentum.
Doueihi iced the win with a penalty goal with three minutes remaining. The 28-16 victory was complete.
Michael Maguire described it as a “scrappy win” but was happy with the efforts of his players to close out the win.
“Completions and building pressure” were still seen as areas to improve.
From Trent Barrett’s perspective, “individual errors and ill-discipline” hurt the Bulldogs, with the first twenty minutes of the second half being especially disappointing.
NRL News Player of the Game
3 points: Stefano Utoikamanu (WST) is fast becoming the enforcer for the Wests Tigers, and he was no different today.
With the game on the line for the first fifty minutes, Utoikamanu led all forwards for metres gained. His work rate was exceptional.
2 points: Luke Brooks (WST) is a much-maligned player but he was better today.
His kicking game was first class, notching his first 40/20 for the season and an accurate cross-field kick leading to a try. Brooks also seemed to take the line on more in this afternoon’s effort.
1 point: With the Bulldogs halves still struggling, Jeremy Marshall-King (CBY) was Canterbury’s pick this afternoon.
Much of their better play was created off his well-timed dummy-half runs. The Meaney and Waddell tries both came via Marshall-King.
