Match Details
Match Date	19th Apr, 2003
Opponent	St George Illawarra
Result	Loss 14-24
Coach	Steven Folkes
Captain	Steve Price
Venue	Homebush (Telstra Stadium)
Crowd	33,397
Referee	Shayne Hayne

The Dragons have turned around a controversial week to secure a surprise 24-14 victory over the Bulldogs at Telstra Stadium. In front of a mediocre crowd, the Dragons showed that whilst their fifth tackle options are still need refining, persistence and a bit of pride in ones strip can bring Premiership points.

St George Illawarra started the match the better side, scoring through Brent Kite, who collected a well placed pass by Shaun Timmins to score in the 3rd minute. Mark Riddell added the extras and the Dragons were up 6-0.

The Bulldogs however equalised only six minutes later, with Kiwi, Nigel Vagana putting Johnathan Thurston into a gap, before he offloaded to supporting player, Hazem El Masri who scored. El Masri converted his own try.

The Bulldogs then doubled their score in the 26th minute, with Luke Pattern combining with Thurston to open up the Dragons before sending El Masri over to score his second try. El Masri's extras put the score at 12-6, and that's where it stayed when the teams went into the sheds at half time.

The Bulldogs only scored two points in the second half, a penalty goal in the 52nd minute. Yet despite only those two points, for the majority of the second half, Canterbury looked the more deadly side. Frustration however crept into the side, and the Dragons capitalised.

Ben Hornby made the break near the Bulldogs line, when he then offloaded to an anticipating Barrett. However the ball didn't make it to Barrett in one go, with lock Travis Norton attempting to stop the attack, he in turn simply knocked it into the in goals for the Dragon's five-eighth to dive on and collect the four points.

The extras added by Amos Roberts put the Dragons within two points, and then Roberts went and put his side in the lead with a try in the 67th minute. Barrett's sealed the match with a four pointer on the 80th minute after intercepting a desperate Bulldogs side, who were struggling to come to grips on however they lost the match.

Source: www.rleague.com

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