Round 13
St.George-Illawarra Dragons 28 d. Brisbane Broncos 10

2008 NRL Telstra Premiership Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

Location: Aus_NZ > National > First Grade Competition: NRL Telstra Premiership

Dragons into top eight after four successive victories
Mon June 9, 2008
Source: www.dragons.com.au

The St George Bank Dragons have tonight recorded their fourth consecutive victory defeating the Broncos 28-10 in front of 11,432 fans.

The Dragons scored five tries to the Broncos two with the win only soured by the injury to Wendell Sailor just prior to half-time. Sailor took an elbow to the head from David Stagg which fractured his cheek-bone.

"It was disappointing to lose Sailor," Brown said. "He had some good strong carries and just gave the boys that buzz from out wide."

"I thought we fought hard and a lot of guys contributed quite well to get us across the line tonight."

Captain Ben Hornby said the side was disappointed to lose Sailor but the team stuck together and kept working hard.

"It was disappointing but we were focused on what we were doing and managed to put on a few good plays that turned into points," he said.

The red and whites start to the match was fantastic with the home side scoring the first try of the night in just the eighth minute. A Jamie Soward bomb earned a repeat set with Brett Morris and Jason Nightingale pushing the Broncos debutant Josh Hoffman back into the in-goal area. From the following set a number of promising charges forward put the Dragons in good position and on the last Soward put in a pin-point kick which hit the upright and Captain Ben Hornby scored under the uprights. Soward converted and the Dragons skipped away to an early 6-nil lead.

A mistake by Broncos prop Joel Clinton was picked up by former Dragon Ashton Sims in an offside position with the Dragons earning a penalty 30m out from the Broncos line. Soward elected to take the two points and the lead was out beyond the converted try to 8-nil after 12 minutes.

Off the back of another penalty the Dragons were able to turn it into points once again through Dapto junior Dean Young. The Broncos were penalised for being inside the 10m on the Dragons 30m line. Working the ball down field it was on the fourth where Young spotted a break in the line and performed a 180 degree turn and barged over from close range in the 20th minute. Soward again converted to extend the lead to 14-nil.

The Broncos opened their account for the night in the 27th minute through New Zealand International Greg Eastwood. Some lazy marker defence by the Dragons allowed Eastwood to get the ball on the inside and slide through to score next to the left upright. Michael Ennis converted the try to bring the score to 14-6 in favour of the Dragons.

Another piece of Morris twin magic occurred in the 30th minute with the result being a Brett Morris try. Josh Morris put a step inside Nick Emmett and managed to get his left hand free and was able to pop the ball up for Brett who turned on the after burners and scored 15m in from the western touchline. Soward converted and the lead went out to 20-6.

The remaining 10 minutes was dominated by the Broncos but the Dragons held on with the most pressure being put on the red and whites right on half-time but they were able to hold a 14 point lead as both sides went to the break.

The news from the sheds was shattering for the Dragons with the much anticipated return of dual international Wendell Sailor being ended prematurely by a fractured cheekbone which he suffered at the back end of the first half after copping an elbow from David Stagg.

In the second half the crowd were disappointed with the departure of Sailor. In the first eight minutes there was a disallowed try against the Dragons after a knock-on by Justin Poore.

But the Broncos were awarded a "Benefit of the Doubt" try in the 48th minute which to most fans looked to be a knock-on by Tonie Carroll as he went to ground the ball. It was an Ennis kick through that got a favourable bounce and Carroll won the race to the ball. Ennis was unable to convert with the score left at 20-10.

The Dragons looked to have secured victory in the 62nd minute with Jason Nightingale scoring his 11th try of the season. A mid-field bomb by Soward was chased through by Hornby who jumped above Hoffman and was able to bat the ball back that ended in the hands of Josh Morris and he got the ball out to Nightingale to score in the south-eastern corner of WIN Stadium. Soward couldn't convert from out wide and the Dragons extended the lead out to 24-10.

Victory was a "locked in" in the 75th minute with Nightingale scoring his 12th try of the season, in the south-eastern corner. Off the back of a penalty against Eastwood for strip on Ryles the Dragons earned a repeat set in good attacking position. After a couple of charges forward the Dragons were able to get the ball to the edges and a quick ball from Stuart Webb out to Josh Morris created the overlap. Josh then threw a long ball over the top to Nightingale who smartly stepped inside and planted the ball down with his right hand. Soward again couldn't convert and the Dragons held on to win their fourth consecutive match 28-10.

DRAGONS 28 (Nightingale 2, Hornby, Young, B Morris Tries; Soward 4 Goals) def. BRONCOS 10 (Eastwood, Carroll Tries; Ennis 1 Goal)

Referee: Ben Cummins

Crowd: 11,432

News Source: www.dragons.com.au


Punters all over Sailor to score a try tonight
Fri June 6, 2008
TAB Sportsbet customers have rallied to Wendell Sailor in his comeback match tonight with solid support for him in all markets.

Sailor has been well backed in the Score/Not to Score a try market with money running 4:1 in favour of him scoring a try.

The market is

Wendell to score a try 2.30
Wendell not to score a try 1.55

He is also the best backed player in the 1st try scorer market firming from his original quote of $13 to be now equal favourite, with teammate Jason Nightingale @ $9. Investment on him represents 40% of the total in the market. He has been backed to win over $60,000.

Support flows through into the 1st tryscorer/margin market with Sailor/St Geo Ill 1-12 @ $15 and Sailor/St Geo Ill 13+ @ $23

In man of the match betting Sailor has remained at his opening price of $21 but still has commanded 20% of the total investment.

Thu June 5, 2008
• Special Wendell Sailor Return Betting Markets
  
Tue June 3, 2008
• Sailor makes long awaited return to NRL
  
Tue June 3, 2008
• Hoffman to make NRL debut
  

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