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St George have missed the top eight after being upset 26-20 by a spirited Bulldogs team in a see-sawing match at ANZ Stadium.
Canterbury’s win ends St George’s season and allows the Cowboys to hang onto eighth spot. The Bulldogs were able to send fan favourites James Graham and Josh Reynolds out as winners.
They opened the scoring with a try to departing five-eighth Josh Reynolds in the fifth minute. He chased a Brenko Lee grubber to score but re-injured his calf and went off not long after.
The Dragons hit back in the 13th minute when Widdop knocked back a last tackle bomb. Tariq Sims picked up the crumbs and offloaded to back-rower Joel Thompson who scored under the posts to level the scores.
Fullback Will Hopoate then laid on two tries for the Bulldogs in quick succession. For the first, he put winger Chase Stanley away down the sideline before backing up inside to score himself. Just three minutes later, he threw a great cut-out ball to put Marcelo Montoya over in the other corner.
Penalties were 7-1 in St George’s favour in the first half but their attack was stilted. They looked like they were playing under pressure and didn’t come close to scoring again until the 38th minute when they spun the ball wide and Jason Nightingale used his finishing skills to score in the corner.
Gareth Widdop converted to make the half-time score 14-12. It was a crucial try to give the Dragons some sort of confidence heading into the second half.
The Dragons gave their fans hope when they started the second half better in attack. In the 53rd minute, they threw the ball wide before Tim Lafai made a break and turned the ball inside for fullback Matt Dufty to score. St George were back in front and temporarily in the top 8. Widdop’s conversion made it 18-14.
They were nearly in again in the 60th minute but incredible defence by Will Hopoate saw Josh Dugan held up under the posts. St George continued to attack and the Dogs looked out on their feet when the referee below a penalty to the Dragons 10 metres out. They elected to take the two points to stretch their lead to 20-14, rather than go for the try.
Three minutes later, man-of-the match Will Hopoate made another break for the Bulldogs before turning the ball back inside for prop Aiden Tolman to score. Mbye’s conversion locked up the scores at 20-all.
Seven minutes from full-time, resurgent hooker Michael Lichaa burrowed his way over from dummy half to score under the posts and the Dogs were in front 26-20.
The Dragons threw everything at Canterbury for the last few minutes to try and send the game into golden point, but it wasn’t to be. After surprisingly being in the top four mid-season, the Dragons have finished one win away from finals football.
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