Canterbury have broken a three-match losing streak, scoring three second-half tries to beat St George 16-2 at ANZ Stadium.
As they so often do when their backs are against the wall, the Bulldogs have lifted to score a much needed two points.
St George headed into the sheds at half-time leading 2-0, after taking advantage of a harsh penalty given against the Bulldogs for supposedly interfering with a kick chase.
Canterbury had a glut of the possession and all the field position early, but couldn’t capitalise. Winger Brett Morris spilled the ball with the line wide open in the 8th minute after receiving a pass from his brother Josh, but that was as close as they came to scoring in the first 40 minutes.
Possession evened up later in the half and the game settled into an arm wrestle. Both teams were prepared to throw the ball around, but the defence was solid.
Josh Morris finally broke the try-scoring drought in the 54th minute after the Bulldogs threw the ball out wide after retrieving their own bomb on the last tackle. Will Hopoate broke a staggered defensive line before turning the ball inside for Josh Morris for the four-pointer.
Hooker Michael Lichaa burrowed his way over from dummy half with 10 minutes to go after Canterbury had earned a repeat set near the line.
Five minutes later, winger Marcelo Montoya put the match out of reach of the Dragons when he scored a scrappy try out wide after a last tackle kick.
The victory sees Canterbury still one win outside the top 8, but coach Des Hasler will be much happier with how his team bounced back today after their 38-0 thumping by Penrith last week.
They still have to improve their last tackle options, but they were willing in both attack and defence for the full 80 minutes today.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Because they had the brains to organise it and set these games up as regular fixtures. Plus there are now three games played on Anzac Day and two on good Friday so they don't get them "all". The charity shield is a trial game. All clubs get those.
Margaret
Guest
How is it Canterbury, Dragons and Rabbits get all the blockbuster days Charity Shield, Anzac, Good Friday, Queens birthday
catcat
Roar Rookie
Better from the Dogs but still not great, and still an inconsistent side it is just hope that has me believing they will make the 8 now. Morrises, Elliot, Stanley, Hoppa and MBye all had great games yesterday. Was Hoppa a left side centre in his day? He seemed to love it down that side when he got the ball there. Which got me thinking that MBye is actually a centre too (right?)..are there too many centres in this team?
The Barry
Roar Guru
Lee's a hard one. He leads the team in line breaks, line break assists, offloads and try assists but also leads in errors and missed tackles (by a fair margin). Stanley looked good but I'm not sure how our attack aims up without Lee. I'd have Montoya, Stanley and Lee ahead of Holland. The next few weeks will be pretty critical. We've got a bye, Warriors (A), Eels (A - ANZ), Knights (H), bye. Eight points from those games is really the minimum. That will put us on 20 points. If 28 is the mark to make the eight, then we would need another four wins from our last seven: Broncos (A), Panthers (A), Eels (H), Souths (A - ANZ), Manly (H), Titans (A) & Dragons (A - ANZ). At our best possibly, at our worst no way ! But with our crook F&A, we may need more than 28 if there are a few teams on that mark. So it could become five from the last seven which given how horribly inconsistent we've been will be a massive ask.
Sean
Guest
I think we can probably work our way to 6th if we can hold it together. Reynolds coming back should help a lot. Honestly it'll be interesting to see how the side looks our next game. Our defence looked far better today with Stanley and Montoya but Lee offers more in attack and I much prefer Holland on goal kicks. The addition of Reynolds should help solidify the defence on that side as well.
The Barry
Roar Guru
It's good to see the effort - particularly in defence - return to acceptable levels but concerning that we have to cop an absolute pasting to get back to square one. Our two best effort performances come off the back of two floggings with a combined 74-0 score line. Given our for and against is -53 and it looks like the best we can hope for is to be part of the logjam for 8th, those two losses are potentially critical. Execution in attack - particularly around kicks - was still poor yesterday but I'm resigned to the fact that this isn't going to be a silky smooth attacking unit.