NRL 2020, Round 10 | Dragons seal incredible comeback in heartbreaking Bulldogs defeat

Watch Cameron McInnes’ massive falcon that helped the St George Illawarra Dragons claim a stunning comeback win over the Bulldogs.

If Cam McInnes keeps going this way he'll have no teeth left.

They say a change is just as good as a holiday, the same often happens in the NRL and it was Canterbury Bulldogs were almost the latest beneficiaries until the St George Illawarra Dragons sealed a heartbreaking comeback.

Having had just one win for the season — coincidentally against the St George Illawarra Dragons earlier in the season — coach Dean Pay walked out on the club during the week with Canterbury leading for most of the game, until the final moments.

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It comes after the Dragons scored in a hurry within the first minute of the game to an “outrageous” catch from fullback Matt Dufty.

Euan Aitken made it 10-0 after seven minutes and the scoreline could have been anything.

The Dragons flipped the script on the Bulldogs, making their crisis worse in a slice of payback for earlier in the season.

But few expected the cellar dwellers to hit back as they did with three straight tries and a penalty goal to go up 20-10 at the break.

The Dragons were putting the pressure on most of the second half but couldn’t break the Bulldogs line, who went ahead 22-10 after a penalty goal.

That was until the 65th minute when a Dragons’ bomb was allowed to bounce, straight into the hands of winger Jason Saab’s hands to cross the line.

An Adam Clune run then tied it up at 22-all when he found Dufty to finish off the clear break, leaving the game on the line.

But with five minutes left, Dragons skipper Cam McInnes put his body on the line, copping a full blooded kick straight in the face, allowing his side to start in an attacking zone.

WATCH IN THE VIDEO PLAYER ABOVE

“That was kicked with some sort of force too,” Steve Roach said on Fox League.

Warren Smith also called it “one of the biggest falcons we’ve seen in a long time in the NRL”.

Cam McInnes cops it in the face

While the side couldn’t kick a field goal, Corey Norman earned a repeat set and missed off the next set.

But the drama wasn’t over as the Bulldogs’ Marcelo Montoya dropped the ball with about 90 seconds left, with the ball bouncing off his knee and rolling to Norman to seal the victory with a try.

Smith called it “unbelievable” while Kevin Walters said it was “an incredible finish” because he thought the Dragons were “gone with 15 minutes to go”.

But the Bulldogs got plenty of praise for their performance after leading for most of the game but not being able to hold on to the lead at the death.

😢 Heart breaking!

Plenty of heart and effort left out in the middle.#NRLDragonsBulldogs pic.twitter.com/utz0Ftfs6Y

— Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs (@NRL_Bulldogs) July 18, 2020

Whatever the how and why - the most telling factor in this @NRL_Bulldogs side for some time now seems to be maximum punishment for basic unforced errors. Effort undisputed. #NRLDragonsBulldogs

— Bill Woods (@bmrwoods) July 18, 2020

Ouch. Got to feel for the Dogs after the week they’ve had. #NRLDragonsBulldogs

— Scott Bailey (@ScottBaileyAAP) July 18, 2020

Bulldogs interim coach Steve Georgallis said Montoya didn’t deserve the finish he got with the dropped ball rolling to Norman.

“We’ve just finished having a discussion that we played for 77 minutes today and for three minutes, we took the wrong options and came up with errors and as you said, it can be a cruel game and we were punished for it,” he said.

Georgallis said he hoped the playing group took plenty from the game and wanted to get back to the basics.