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Highlights: Bulldogs beat Dragons, Mbye injured

Moses Mbye of the Bulldogs. (AAP Image/Dean Lewins)
Roar Guru
13th June, 2016
3

The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs have claimed a crucial 18-point win over the St George-Illawarra Dragons at ANZ Stadium.

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After a few momentum swings throughout the 80 minutes the Bulldogs came out on the right end of a very encouraging result.

The Dragons got off to a strong start and this was rewarded when Jordan Thompson broke through the Bulldogs defensive line and ran down the field to find Kurt Mann with an offload and he scored the first try.

This seemed to spark the Bulldogs into action after a slow start and when the Bulldogs forwards found their feet they began to dominate the contest.

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A try to Sam Perrett got them on the board and then quick back to back tries from Michael Lichaa and Moses Mbeye gave the Bulldogs a 10 point lead in the 32nd minute.

After struggling for any fluency in attack the Dragons got lucky just before half time when a Gareth Widdop kick deflected off the leg of Aiden Tolman and fell in front of Tyson Frizell who grounded it to reduce the margin to just four points at half time.

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With a chance to jump into the top eight on the line for them the Dragons landed the first blow in the second half when Mann somehow grounded a Benji Marshall kick in the corner to level the score.

But this is where the joy would end for the Dragons as the Bulldogs re-established their dominance across the park.

The Bulldogs regained the lead thanks to a try from Curtis Rona and when Will Hopoate scored after a controversial play by Tony Williams the Bulldogs moved out to a comfortable lead.

A late try to Josh Reynolds who pounced on a Dragons error sealed a 16-point win and snapped a two game losing streak for the Bulldogs at the same time.

A late ankle injury to Moses Mbye will have the Bulldogs a bit nervous as they head into the bye while the Dragons will be looking to stay in touch with the top eight when they face a Melbourne Storm side in round 15 that will be without Cooper Cronk and Cameron Smith due to Origin duties.

Final score
St George-Illawarra Dragons 16
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 34

The Roar’s NRL MVP votes
The votes for this game could have gone a number of ways but this is how I saw them in the end.

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In good conditions that suited attacking football Curtis Rona was a standout for the Bulldogs as he racked up 194 metres, three line breaks, one try assist and a try of his own in a great display of attacking football.

A good game by the Bulldogs forwards opened the door for Josh Reynolds to do his thing in attack and the energiser bunny had a hand in a number of attacking ventures for the Bulldogs on his way to two line breaks, 132 running metres and a try of his own.

With a chance of being selected for New South Wales in game two of the State of Origin, young Dragons backrower Tyson Frizell did his selection chances no harm with 150 running metres, 33 tackles and a try in a performance that helped keep the Dragons in the game.

3 Curtis Rona
2 Josh Reynolds
1 Tyson Frizell

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