St George Illawarra showed all of their fighting spirit to grind out a 20-18 win over the Sydney Roosters in their Anzac Day clash on Monday.
The Dragons lost Mitch Rein and debutant Taane Milne to concussion and were without Euan Aitken and Benji Marshall with hamstring problems.
St George Illawarra coach Paul McGregor said he was proud of his team’s resolve.
“It’s an honour and a privilege to be able to play on this day,” he said.
“The build up is something not seen in a week to week game. It’s seen around semi-final time.
“And that’s the way we approach it.”
St George Illawarra took the lead in the 11th minute through a Gareth Widdop penalty goal.
Roosters prop Sam Moa was placed on report for a late, high tackle on Josh McCrone while the halfback was kicking downfield.
It was a horror couple of minutes for Roosters fullback Latrell Mitchell midway through the first half when he lost the ball in a try-saving Josh Dugan tackle.
From the next set the Dragons marched down field for Widdop to put up a swirling bomb.
Mitchell dropped the kick, allowing Widdop to run through and ground the ball close to the dead ball line and extend the lead.
In the 24th minute a Shaun Kenny-Dowell mistake with the Roosters coming out of their own end gifted the Dragons possession.
A minute later and the Dragons were in again, this time from a diagonal Widdop kick in behind the Roosters line.
Roosters centre Brendan Elliot missed the ball which allowed Jason Nightingale to ground it at the second attempt.
The Roosters looked as though they would limp to half-time trialing 12-0 but a Kalifa Faifai Loa intercept in the final minute of the half saw the Dragons winger run 60 metres to score under the posts.
But second half tries to Jake Friend, Mitchell and debutant Ryan Matterson led to a frenetic finish.
The Dragons also had to overcome a couple of controversial decisions, including what looked to be a forward pass from dummy half in the lead up to Friend’s try.
The win lifts St George Illawarra to ninth place ahead of their trip to New Zealand to face the Warriors on Sunday.
Leader Scoreboard
St George Illawarra 20 (Gareth Widdop, Jason Nightingale, Kalifa Faifai Loa tries. Gareth Widdop four goals)
defeated
Sydney Roosters 18 (Jake Friend, Latrell Mitchell, Ryan Matterson tries. Jackson Hastings three goals)
at Allianz Stadium, Moore Park
Crowd: 34,483
Leader man of the match: Gareth Widdop (Dragons)
Dragons’ next three: Warriors (away), Raiders (home), Rabbitohs (away)
