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Tigers trump Bulldogs in a thriller, 18-12

Avagalu Seumanufagai of the Wests Tigers. (AAP Image/Michael Chambers)
Roar Guru
23rd April, 2017
12

The Wests Tigers have recorded an important win at ANZ Stadium, downing the Canterbury Bulldogs by 6 points in an ANZAC Weekend thriller.

The Tigers started the better side, and had a try disallowed somewhat controversially in the sixth minute after Michael Chee-Kam was ruled to be offside on a kick chase.

It wouldn’t matter though, as the Tigers were in not four minutes later through Nofoaluma.

The Tigers had the Bulldogs shot on the right side, and a brilliant ball from James Tedesco sent the winger over in the corner untouched.

Mitchell Moses put the conversion over for a 6-0 lead.

It didn’t take long for the Dogs to respond, as Montoya showed good strength to score off an early ball from Josh Morris.

Kerrod Holland matched Mitchell Moses’ efforts from the sideline, and the Dogs were right back in the contest.

The rest of the first half was an arm wrestle, with the only addition to the scoreline a couple of penalty goals for the Tigers.

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Tedesco did almost score in the shadow of halftime, but he was held up just shy of the line.

The Bulldogs came out with a purpose from the half time sheds, and it wasn’t long before they hit back.

A crazy lead up saw the ball go to both sides of the field, before a clever sequence of passing set Kerrod Holland down the right sideline.

The try was originally sent up as No Try, but the bunker determined that Holland had skipped out of the attempted tackle before a double movement, and the green lights were shown.

The Bulldogs would take the lead in the 54th minute through a penalty goal, and it looked for a while that that would be how the scoreline stayed.

However, the game turned the way of the Tigers in the 68th minute.

Chris Lawrence was denied a try scoring opportunity by Brenko Lee on a kick chase, and Lee would be sent for ten in the bin for his troubles.

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Mitchell Moses would level the score at 12 with the subsequent penalty, but the real damage was already done.

The Tigers could tell they had a sniff at that point, and Mitchell Moses almost potted a field goal with about 8 minutes remaining.

The Dogs also had their chances, but a brain snap from Greg Eastwood on the third tackle ended their hopes for a victory.

Despite being well within range of a field goal attempt, the Bulldogs second rower put a grubber in that was no danger to the Tigers defence.

The Tigers would score off the subsequent set, as a Luke Brooks kick took a friendly bounce off Josh Jackson for Kevin Naiqama to score under the posts.

The Dogs did have one final opportunity to tie it up, but Brett Morris couldn’t hold on to a tap back on the final kick of the day, and the Tigers held on 18-12.

Final score
Wests Tigers 18
Canterbury Bulldogs 12

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