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The Wests Tigers have held on for an upset win over the St George Illawarra Dragons.
Final score
St George Illawarra Dragons 16
Wests Tigers 20
Will the Dragons silence their critics and consolidate their position in the top four? Or will the Tigers keep their slim finals hopes alive? Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting at 4:10pm (AEST).
Paul McGregor will be wanting a serious improvement from his men in defence as they look to bounce back from last week’s 52-30 loss to Melbourne. While the Dragons may have been missing a host of Origin stars for the game, it was no excuse for conceding nine tries.
What would have been more disappointing was the fact that the Saints led 30-28 with 15 minutes left, only to let in four tries within the space of nine minutes.
Fortunately for the home side, all of their Origin combatants are expected to play against the Tigers.
Ivan Cleary’s men may still be in finals contention, yet a loss this week would all but distinguish their hopes of making it to September.
The Tigers currently sit six points short of the eighth-placed Warriors and will face the Dragons and Rabbitohs twice in their run home.
Cleary’s side has recently squandered two winnable games against the Raiders and Titans. With both matches well and truly in the balance at the break, the Tigers suffered heavy defeats.
In fact, in the past two rounds, Wests have failed to have scored any points in the second forty and have conceded 56.
There are a host of changes for the Tigers. Benji Marshall replaces Josh Reynolds at five-eighth while David Nofoaluma returns on the wing in place of Malakai Watene-Zelezniak.
Ben Matulino is also back at prop with Alex Twal going to the bench. Josh Aloiai moves into the starting second row with Chris McQueen dropping out.
Prediction
This is a danger game for the Dragons given that the Tigers will be desperate to stay in the finals race. However, having been embarrassed by the Storm last week, the home side will be motivated to once again prove themselves genuine premiership contenders.
Dragons by 12.
Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting at 2pm (AEST).
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