Match Details
Match Date	14th May, 2010
Opponent	St George Illawarra
Result	Loss 6-19
Coach	Kevin Moore
Captain	Andrew Ryan
Venue	Homebush (ANZ Stadium)
Crowd	37,773
Referee	Tony Archer Bernard Sutton

St George Illawarra has maintained its position at the top of the NRL ladder with a methodical 19-6 win over a disappointing Canterbury at ANZ Stadium on Friday night.

Coming off a heavy loss to Manly last weekend, the Dragons returned to form in strong fashion in front of 37,773 fans, the biggest Sydney crowd of the season.

The Dragons withstood a blistering start from the hosts before their class shone through, leading 12-6 at the break before going on with the job in the second half.

With Mark Gasnier expected to return to the club as early as next week, the rest of the season looks very bright for the Red and Whites.

The Dragons have now won their past four matches against the Bulldogs, and have conceded only 12 points in their two encounters in 2010.

For the Bulldogs, it was their sixth defeat of the season, the same amount they lost in the whole of 2009.

With the rep season around the corner and a number of their players likely to be involved, there seems a long road ahead for Canterbury if they hope to make the finals.

The Bulldogs had a bye last week and as a result started much the quicker and fresher, coming up with the first try after four minutes.

Not surprisingly it was Josh Morris who scored it, finishing off a sweeping backline move that involved halves Brett Kimmorley and Blake Green before skipper Andrew Ryan threw the final pass.

Bryson Goodwin hit his conversion perfectly to give the home side a 6-0 lead.

The Dragons struggled to get anything going in attack which allowed Canterbury to enjoy most of the early field position.

But one thing you can always count on with Wayne Bennett's troops is their defence and they held firm in the face of a number of threatening opportunities.

And that hard work paid off on 22 minutes when a rare foray into attacking territory resulted in a try to backrower Ben Creagh.

Creagh, who had earlier been hit in two crunching tackles by Jamal Idris inside the first 15 minutes, this time got one over the giant Bulldogs centre.

The NSW Origin hopeful got to Jamie Soward's crossfield kick first, juggling it forward before regathering to score beside the posts. Soward converted and the scores were locked at 6-6.

The Bulldogs looked like they had regained the lead five minutes later when Steve Turner crossed out wide but referee Tony Archer correctly ruled Luke Patten's pass to his winger was forward.

While the Dragons weren't getting many opportunities in the attacking zone, when they were in good field position they made it count and scored again six minutes from half-time through winger Jason Nightingale.

There didn't appear to be much threat when Dragons skipper Ben Hornby ran the ball up but his dummy split the Bulldogs defence before throwing a pass to Nick Emmett who did well to hold of Morris and Goodwin before offloading to Nightingale to score out wide.

Soward's sideline conversion was pinpoint and the Dragons went to the sheds 12-6 in front.

That margin should have been doubled seven minutes after the break but Dragons forward Trent Merrin somehow spilt the ball five metres out with the tryline wide open.

Fortunately for Merrin it wasn't too costly with Matt Cooper scoring for St George just four minutes later.

Cooper, who is in a battle with Josh Morris, Idris, Timana Tahu and Michael Jennings for one of the centre spots in the NSW Origin side, did his chances no harm when he finished off a brilliant long-range try.

Darius Boyd made a break down the left-hand side before linking with Hornby who passed to Cooper in traffic before outpacing the defence for a 40-metre run to the line.

Soward's brilliant night with the boot continued, potting another sideline conversion and the Dragons were well in control at 18-6.

Ben Barba was introduced soon after and sparked the Bulldogs into action but they couldn't capitalise on a couple of opportunities he created.

Soward then potted a field goal 11 minutes from the end to give the Dragons a 13-point lead and make the two points safe.

Source: Sportal

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