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St George Illawarra have recorded their 11th straight win over the New Zealand Warriors with a 36-0 win at Wellington Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
ST GEORGE 36
NEW ZEALAND 0
In a brilliant display of defence, and attack, the Dragons dominated the contest to keep the Warrriors scoreless for the 2nd time in 4 rounds.
It also moves the Dragons to 7th on the NRL ladder and keeps them well in the hunt for a finals spot.
The win wasn’t without drama though as the Dragons lost Dylan Farrell right before kick off. He had to be replaced by Justin Hunt right as the teams came out.
>>MATCH REPROT: Slick Dragons rout Warriors in Wellington
The change though proved to be a wonderful one as he opened the scoring after 6 minutes.
A wonderful pass from Benji Marshall set up the play as he went over near the sideline.
The Dragons then suffered further injuries with Will Matthews (shoulder) and Marshall (hamstring) out for the rest of the match after just 15 minutes.
It didn’t faze St George though as they added another try to Mitch Rein after 21 minutes to lead 10-0.
That would be the score at half time as the Dragon defence held on after a barrage of attacks from the Warriors.
The Warriors would get close, with a couple of potential tries sent upstairs, but not be able to get past the Dragons defence.
This seemed to break the confidence of New Zealand as the Dragons ran away with the match in the 2nd half.
Four tries in ten minutes gave the Dragons a 32-0 lead and there was no way back for the team who had won just once at the venue in their last seven meetings.
The highlight of those tries was a mark in goal by Jake Marketo from a Mitch Rein kick.
Rein was the best player on the park and was the difference between the two teams.
St George could have won by more but added two penalty goals at the end of the match to increase their for and against.
The loss by the Warriors – 36 points – is the third largest in New Zealand by the team.
Their finals campaign is hanging by a thread and it looks clear they are struggling to play without Shaun Johnson.
They now travel to Penrith to take on the Panthers in a must win clash.
The Dragons now head to Brisbane to take on the Broncos.
The St George Illawarra Dragons are out to continue their great record across the ditch when they face the New Zealand Warriors at Westpac Stadium. Join The Roar for all the action from 3pm (AEST).
New Zealand have not beaten the Dragons since 2007 – a win today would be the 11th in a row for the joint-venture club over the Warriors.
Overall, in 22 matches, the Warriors have won just four times, with 14 of the last 15 contests won by the Red V.
With St George seventh and New Zealand ninth, a win would keep – or move – the team into the eight. Effectively this is game is worth four points.
Despite being a home ground, the Warriors struggle at Westpac Stadium, having played seven matches at the venue for just one win.
The Warriors are without Shaun Johnson for the rest of the year, and struggled in his absence last week, losing 18-14 to the Sharks.
Despite the loss, they have made minimal changes, with Jonathan Wright replacing Konrad Hurrell who has been dropped, while Dominique Peyroux has been added to a five-man bench.
The Dragons are boosted by the return of Trent Merrin, who has served his four game suspension from the Origin series and will make his comeback from the bench.
Ben Creagh also moves back into the starting line-up after coming from the bench last week. Jason Nightingale is out with a foot injury and replaced by youngster Kiti Glymin.
Prediction
New Zealand holds no fear for the Dragons, and after putting a halt to a run of consecutive losses last week against the Knights, St George Illawarra will record their second win in a row.
Dragons by 4.
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