Match Details
Match Date	19th Mar, 2010
Opponent	St George Illawarra
Result	Loss 6-26
Coach	Kevin Moore
Captain	Andrew Ryan
Venue	Wollongong (WIN Stadium)
Crowd	16,177
Referee	Tony Archer Matt Cecchin

A hat-trick to try-scoring freak Brett Morris has helped St George Illawarra to an emphatic 26-6 victory over Canterbury-Bankstown at WIN Stadium on Friday night.

For the second week in a row the Bulldogs found themselves trailing early as the Saints stunned the visitors with three tries in the opening 16 minutes.

Morris, last season's leading try scorer, crossed twice in the early barrage as the hosts opened up a 16-0 lead at the interval after a near perfect half of football.

The Bulldogs cut the deficit to 12 points early in the second stanza when Ben Barba danced over before Nick Emmitt and Morris crossed late to complete the five-tries-to-one romp in front of a 16,177 lively fans.

It was a dream start for the Dragons when Morris crossed out wide in the third minute to open his 2010 account.

Having been awarded a penalty on half way, the Dragons kicked for touch and immediately spun the ball wide with full-back Darius Boyd delivering a pin-point cut-out pass to the winger who jetted over in the corner despite the best efforts of Luke Patten.

Jamie Soward's sideline conversion made it 6-0 the Dragons' way after four minutes.

After surviving a brief raid from the visitors, a strong run from Boyd and an ensuing penalty put the Dragons back on attack.

And the hosts quickly cashed in their chips when Luke Priddis darted out of dummy-half and found a charging Dean Young on the angle to score adjacent to the posts.

The onslaught continued when makeshift centre Matt Prior stood up Steve Turner and Patten and sprinted 25m before linking with Morris who breezed over for his second four-pointer.

Soward added the extras from an acute angle to take a 16-0 lead in the 17th minute.

Incredibly, Ben Hornby's handling error in the 21st minute was the Dragons first mistake of the match, as Wayne Bennett's men completed a perfect nine-of-nine sets to start the match.

The rare blemish sparked a shift in momentum as the visitors finally began to enjoy some possession in Dragons' territory.

With hooker Michael Ennis serving a one-match ban, Brett Kimmorley resorted to the cross-field kick, and the tactic almost paid dividends on two occasions as Jamal Idris soared above his opposite man only to knock the ball forward with the line in sight.

Josh Morris got finally found his way over the line in the final minute of the half only to be held up by four Saints defenders.

The visitors had one final raid from the ensuing goal-line drop-out which almost ended in an all-in brawl as Bryson Goodwin reacted to some extra attention in the tackle.

Brett and Josh Morris entertained the fans by pretending to stand toe-to-toe as the Dragons headed into the break in command.

Soward increased the lead seven minutes in with a penalty goal before Bulldogs super sub Ben Barba opened the visitors' account with a piece of individual brilliance.

With his side deep on attack, the talented youngster danced through three defenders before evading Boyd, and the goal post, to reduce the deficit to 12 points with 27 minutes remaining.

But when Emmett crossed in the 64th minute after a sustained build up, victory was all but assured for the Saints.

Source: Sportal

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