Reynolds Kicks Cowboys to loss
3 hours ago | Andrew Ferguson
The understrength Warriors have shellshocked the St George Illawarra Dragons this afternoon, coming away from Mt Smart Stadium with a 26-10 victory in front of 12752 brave fans.
Many expected the Dragons to have an easy run of things this afternoon, coming up against a Warriors side many of its big names such as Manu Vatuvei, Ben Matulino, Bodene Thompson, Albert Vete, Sam Lisone and Konrad Hurrell.
But it was the Warriors who made things look easy.
The Dragons opened the scoring in the 7th minute with a penalty goal to Gareth Widdop.
A heavily involved Shaun Johnson stole the lead for his side minutes later. Working down the right edge, Johnson threw a lovely pass for his winger, and then followed the play down field. He capitalized on his own line break assist, using some crafty footwork to fool the unsettled defence.
The Dragons hit back in the 14th minute, with Euan Aitken just barely sliding over the try line. The bunker awarded the try, but that was the last of the assistance the Dragons had from the men in the video room - with multiple disallowed try scoring opportunities in the first half alone.
The Warriors scored again in the 18th minute, and the game looked set to be a high scoring one. This time it was Matt Allwood crossing in the corner after some fantastic lead up play by his inside men.
Charlie Gubb picked up his first career try in the 28th minute, putting his body on the line and just powering his way past the defence.
Leading in to half time, the Dragons picked up their second try, with Kalifa Faifai Loa scoring unopposed on the right edge, with the half time score 18-10 to the Warriors.
The second half was a dour encounter, with neither side looking particularly slick in their movements. The Dragons continued their recent tradition of struggling to score in the second half, despite spending the majority of their time in posession at the Warriors' end of the field.
Poor ball-handling was to blame for much of the performance in the second half, with the Dragons making more than ten unforced errors in 40 minutes.
A converted try to Jeff Robson in the 61st minute was the sole highlight of the half, with the only other scoring play a penalty goal to the Warriors in the 76th minute - the final score Warriors 26, Dragons 10.
Both sides will have a break next weekend due to the Representative Round, before the Dragons host the Raiders on Thursday night in round 10. The Warriors will travel to Penrith to take on the Panthers on Saturday afternoon, with questions being asked of which of their stars will walk back into the team after today's performance.
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