ST GEORGE Illawarra welcomed back their two biggest stars in style, with Gareth Widdop and Josh Dugan both playing starring roles in the Dragons 16-12 victory over Wests Tigers on Saturday.
Widdop made an early return from a knee injury suffered in the Dragons Anzac Day loss to the Roosters and looked like he’d never been away, scoring a first-half double and kicking two goals to single-handedly lead the Tigers 12-2 at halftime.
It was Dugan’s first game for the club since fracturing his cheekbone in the mid-season Test four weeks ago, and his first since announcing he will depart for Cronulla at season’s end – a dispute with the Dragons over his positional future playing no small part in his departure.
All indications are he’ll play in the centres for the Sharks next season but, for now at least, he remains one of the premier fullbacks in the competition, evidenced by his 163 run metres just three days after playing in NSW’s Origin I victory on Wednesday night.
The Tigers own star No. 1 James Tedesco worked hard but couldn’t repeat his Origin heroics, while the inclusion of mid-season recruit Tui Lolohea failed to spark the visitors lacklustre attack, though they gave themselves a chance at victory with a 77th-minute try to Michael Chee Kam.
The win may yet come at a cost with Tyson Frizell, who was also strong backing up from Origin, leaving the field in the 58th minute with a chest injury and not returning.
It was the first time the Dragons’ two biggest attacking aces had played together since their round-eight loss to the Roosters, a fact not lost on coach Paul McGregor post-match.
“I thought Gaz was the form player of the competition before his injury,” McGregor said.
“He’s done a lot of work over the past five weeks to come back a week early and I’m glad he did because he led the boys well.
“He’s a total professional in the way he prepares himself to play well and the boys get a lot of confidence around Gareth because he’s the type of player who instills that in everyone.
“I thought the guys that came back after a tough game on Wednesday night need special mention.
“Duges had five try saves and ran for 170 metres at the back and I thought Tyson, before he got injured and came off did a lot of tough work as well.
“I always say it’s hard to pick out individuals but there were a couple of special performances there.”
McGregor was unsure of the extent of Frizell’s injury, with the Blues back-rower taken to hospital post-match as a precautionary measure.
"Tyson copped an elbow to his pectoral in the second half," club performance head Nathan Pickworth said.
"As he is in a fair bit of pain, we want to send him to the hospital for an x-ray for a possible rib fracture. Once we have that scan it'll tell us more information and we'll do any other follow up scans after that.”
Dugan was also left clutching at his right knee after an awkward tackle in the 63rd minute, but played out the match making a crucial try-saving tackle on Tedesco with the game in the balance.
Widdop got across for the opening four-pointer in the 13th minute, finishing off a shift that went sideline to sideline to open the scoring in the left-hand corner. He slotted the sideline conversion for a 6-0 lead.
Dugan crossed for what looked like the Dragons second 12 minutes later after a break from Jack de Belin, only to be denied by the bunker which found the Dragons lock was offside at the play-the-ball 80 metres back downfield.
Widdop wouldn’t be denied just minutes later, swooping on a dropped ball from Kyle Lovett and racing 60 metres to score his second try of the afternoon. He added the extras for a 12-0 lead with 10 minutes to play in the opening stanza.
Lolohea slotted a penalty goal on halftime for the Tigers first points after Joel Thompson was ruled to have tripped up Tedesco as he chased a kick moments before the siren.
Kevin Naiqama scored seven minutes after the resumption with Lolohea’s attempted conversion waved away, leaving the Dragons with a six-point buffer at 12-6.
The revival was short-lived with Frizell charging onto a deft short-ball from Hame Sele to post his side’s third four-pointer and extend the lead back out to 10 with 30 minutes to play.
The Tigers finally hit back through Chee Kam, after a break from Tedesco, to give themselves a sniff with three minutes left on the clock, but the Dragons were good enough to close the show.
This story originally appeared on the Illawarra Mercury website.
