St George Illawarra’s unbeaten start to the season is over after the Dragons fell 20-12 to the New Zealand Warriors.
The Dragons arrived at Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland having won 13 of their last 14 matches against the Warriors and the only team with an unblemished record, winning their opening six matches.
The Warriors, who only saw their own undefeated start to the campaign ended last weekend, were without mercurial halfback Shaun Johnson as well as Solomone Kata through injury.
And it was Johnson’s replacement who had the hosts in front inside three minutes. Mason Lino scooped up a loose pass on the bounce and fended off Gareth Widdop to race through and score.
The Dragons enjoyed a glut of possession and field position in the first half but were unable to break the Warriors as time and again they were turned away. Widdop, Nene Macdonald, Euan Aitken and Matt Dufty all went close to scoring but the Warriors held firm despite being on the wrong end of an 8-1 penalty count after half an hour.
And the Dragons were made to pay when Anthony Gelling, replacing Kata in the centres, crossed for his first NRL try four minutes from half-time.
St George Illawarra received another leg up when Warriors five-eighth Blake Green was sent to the sin bin just before the break. Referee Ben Cummins had warned the Warriors about repeated infringements on their own line and they appeared to pay the price for their poor discipline. But they would take a 10-0 lead to half-time despite being on the wrong end of a 10-3 penalty count and having only 38 per cent of possession.
The visitors needed to hit back and did so 10 minutes into the second half through a sublime Ben Hunt solo effort. Seemingly with nothing on, the halfback danced across field before exploding between two defenders and holding off another three to slide over next to the posts.
The Dragons looked as though they had hit the front just after the hour mark after a bizarre passage of play. With St George Illawarra on the attack Hunt put a banana kick back on the inside for James Graham who contested the ball with Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.
The Warriors fullback fielded the ball and offloaded before Ken Maumalo attempted a long cut out pass 20 metres out from his own line which was intercepted by Tim Lafai, who strolled over to seemingly give the Dragons the lead. But the video referee ruled Graham had touched the ball into Tuivasa-Sheck in the initial contest.
It was a double hit for the Dragons as Issac Luke kicked a 40-20 from the ensuing set. Two plays later, the hooker isolated Dufty on the try line and over-powered the diminutive fullback from dummy half to extend the Warriors’ lead to 16-6.
But the Dragons refused to quit. Tariq Sims crashed over for his second try of the season with seven minutes remaining to give St George Illawarra hope.
The Dragons were unable to take their final chances before the Warriors sealed the result as Isaiah Papali'i scored out wide after Tuivasa-Sheck had fielded a Luke cross field kick.
St George Illawarra remain on top of the NRL table on for and against ahead of the Warriors despite the result. But the Dragons must regroup quickly. They fly back to Sydney on Saturday and continue their recovery before starting preparation for their traditional Anzac Day clash with the Sydney Roosters on Wednesday.
Leader Scoreboard
New Zealand Warriors 20 (Mason Lino, Anthony Gelling, Issac Luke, Isaiah Papali'i tries. Mason Lino two goals)
defeated
St George Illawarra Dragons 12 (Ben Hunt, Tariq Sims tries. Gareth Widdop two goals)
at Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland
Leader man of the match: Blake Green (Warriors)
Dragons’ next three: Roosters (home), Storm (home), Rabbitohs (away)