Dragons’ slide continues with tough 18-12 loss to Warriors in Wollongong
ST George Illawarra coach Paul McGregor is adamant history won’t dictate his side’s fate this season despite suffering their fourth loss in five weeks.
Dragons
Don't miss out on the headlines from Dragons. Followed categories will be added to My News.
ST George Illawarra coach Paul McGregor is adamant history won’t dictate his side’s fate this season despite suffering their fourth loss in five weeks.
The Dragons have a history of late season collapses and their hopes of finishing inside the top four this year took another hit with an 18-12 loss to the Warriors at WIN Stadium.
They still remain two points inside the top four, however Penrith and Cronulla have a chance to join them on 28 competition points on Sunday afternoon.
FULL PACKAGE: Legend declares Latrell can only get better
STORM RELIEF: Smith avoids serious injury against Rabbits
MOSES: There’s times when I’ve been completely over footy
After trailing by 18 points at half-time, the Dragons were poised to pull off a remarkable comeback but the Warriors managed to hold on for a gutsy victory to put them four points clear of the ninth-placed Wests Tigers.
“Our vision is on what we need to do, not a revision. However everyone is going to talk about it [previous slumps] because we lost,” McGregor said.
“I’ve got a different playing group and we’re in a different position than we have before. I don’t want to revisit it. There’s nothing we can do until we enter the footy field and when we go to training to fix our game.
Dragons Paul Vaughn leaves WIN Stadium in a moon boot. McGregor says he’s being treated for a knee AND ankle injury as they try to ascertain what’s happened. Scans tomorrow. Big blow for the Saints @FOXNRL pic.twitter.com/N8BvlyPrp2
— Hannah Hollis (@hannahhollis_) 4 August 2018
“Our completion rate was down to what you need to be to be a top four side. That second half is where we need to start next week, with better execution. We need to make sure we stick to what the plan is.”
The loss was compounded by a nasty leg injury to State of Origin prop Paul Vaughan, who was taken from the field after 10 minutes – and McGregor is expecting the worst when Vaughan goes for scans on Sunday morning.
“It’s not great – he’s not sure if it’s his knee or his ankle. He heard something pop, so he’s in a bit of a freeze mode at the moment. He’s concerned to be honest with you,” the coach said.
“We’ll have to wait until we get a scan and go from there. It doesn’t look promising at all.”
A poor first half was the problem for the Dragons and all the damage came after Dragons fullback Matt Dufty was sent to the sin bin for a professional foul on Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.
Dufty was handed his marching orders for holding back the Tuivasa-Sheck, who was chasing down his own grubber kick into the in-goal.
With the Dragons down to 12 men, the Warriors made them pay, scoring three tries in the space of 10 minutes.
Centre Solomone Kata scored the first when he accepted an offload from Isaiah Papali’I to cross in the left corner to give the Warriors an 8-0 lead.
Moments later they extended their lead to 14 when Jazz Tevaga offloaded it to hooker Issac Luke, who weaved his way under the posts.
Tuivasa-Sheck, who had a remarkable first half, pulled off one of the best try-saving tackles of the year when he held Tim Lafai up over the line.
And just as Dufty was set to re-enter the game, Kata grabbed his second after a nice cut-out ball from five-eighth Blake Green to give the away side an 18-0 lead at half-time.
The Warriors held on for their first win in Wollongong since 1996 – just their second in 13 attempts.
NZ WARRIORS 18 (S Kata 2 I Luke tries S Johnson 3 goals) bt ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA 12 (L Leilua C McInnes tries G Widdop 2 goals) at WIN Stadium. Referee: Gerard Sutton, Chris Butler.