Newcastle defeated defending premiers St George Illawarra in the latest advertisement for stand-alone Origin matches earlier today.
The plucky Knights prevailed 14-10 at WIN Stadium despite finishing with only one fit reserve after hooker Isaac De Gois (knee), tryscorer Keith Lulia (concussion) and Dan Tolar (head gash) were all forced from the field.
Newcastle (sixth, 20 points), have recorded a hat-trick of wins for the first time this year while the Dragons (third, 25 points) recorded their third loss since the beginning of the representative season.
The hosts missed their Origin contingent – Mark Gasnier, Jamie Soward, Ben Creagh, Brett Morris, Beau Scott and Queenslander Darius Boyd – plus injured talisman Matt Cooper, in an outing plagued by ill-discipline and mistakes.
In short, the Dragons, minus their stars, were a shadow of the team that humbled Manly at the same venue less than a week earlier.
Stand-in pivot Nathan Fien set the tone when he knocked on the kick-off, handing Newcastle a scrum just 10m from the tryline in the opening minute.
Newcastle, who were without Origin stars Kurt Gidley and Akila Uate, blew the early chance when rookie five-eighth Tyrone Roberts kicked from the scrum straight to Dragons winger Reece Simmonds.
Early on it looked as though the Dragons would rely on the same suffocating defence that sunk Manly six days earlier, as Newcastle came away empty-handed after three sets inside the opposition 20m in the first six minutes.
Two minutes later Peter Mata’utia knocked on with the tryline in sight thanks to fearsome attention from Dragons’ centre Alex McKinnon.
Although the spirit was willing, the Dragons were missing the flair needed to make a mark on the scoreboard.
Fien found touch with both his boot and hands, skipper Ben Hornby found a rampaging Michael Weyman with a forward pass and Adam Cuthbertson grubbered dead – all from promising positions - to cap an impotent passage for the hosts.
Not surprisingly, the Dragons turned to a pet tactic – the simple penalty goal – to register first points after Matt Hilder went on report for a late hit on Fien in the 32nd minute.
Five minutes later Simmonds scored his first try in the NRL since round 11, 2007 after a sweeping backline move that had the 18,000 red and white faithful at the ground hopeful their makeshift unit was starting to gel.
Halftime however helped the visitors – who were without Jarrod Mullen and Neville Costigan - more, as they started the second stanza the sharper of the two sides.
They finally levelled the scores when Leulia charged onto a bullet-like pass from Ryan Stig in the 56nd minute.
Stig, who has risen to prominence in just three NRL games, handed the Knights a deserved lead six minutes later with a solo effort for 12-6.
The opportunity came after Dean Young knocked on near his own 20m line.
Newcastle’s advantage stretched to 14-6 in the 67th minute after Was Naiqama potted a penalty goal after dropped Origin rep Trent Merrin held on for far too long in a tackle.
Despite all their errors, the Dragons were still alive after Simmonds scored his second try in the 72nd minute after great lead-up work from Kyle Stanley and Hornby.
The Dragons skipper did his side no favours by rushing and missing the from-the-sideline conversion attempt, leaving the score at 14-10.
Simmonds – back in the NRL after three years in park and suburban footy - nearly scored what would have been a most unexpected hat-trick two minutes later, but Naiqama was first to his hopeful grubber.
Matt Prior knocked on from the ensuing drop-out, all but killing off the Dragons chances.
The meeting was the first between future allies Wayne Bennet and Rick Stone since the former announced he would be leaving the Dragons to coach Newcastle in 2012. Stone has since been offered a spot as the master coach’s assistant.
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