Match Details
Match Date	8th Jun, 2015
Opponent	St George Illawarra
Result	Win 29-16
Coach	Des Hasler
Captain	James Graham
Venue	Homebush (ANZ Stadium)
Crowd	27,291
Referee	Gerard Sutton Chris James

Canterbury coach Des Hasler left little doubt that Moses Mbye is considered the club’s long-term playmaker after benching Josh Reynolds for all but 20 minutes and replacing NSW halfback Trent Hodkinson in a tactical masterstroke that sparked a come-from-behind win over St George Illawarra.

In a surprise move that may not have harmed Reynolds’ hopes of an Origin recall by NSW coach Laurie Daley as much as it had initially appeared, Hasler dropped the out-of-sorts five-eighth to the interchange and started with Mbye and Hodkinson as his halves.

For 60 minutes, the former Blues star was forced to watch from the sideline as the Bulldogs lost captain James Graham with a hamstring injury in the 16th minute and surrendered a 10-6 half-time lead before Hasler injected him into the game after Dragons winger Peter Mata’utia crossed for his team’s third try.

Reynolds came on for Hodkinson and was immediately involved in a miracle try by centre Tim Lafai, who juggled the ball three times after it was flung infield by fullback Brett Morris as he was headed over the sideline. Mbye converted from the sideline to level the scores at 16-16.

The Bulldogs piled on another 13 points in the last 14 minutes, including a Mbye field goal, to run out 29-16 winners over the team that had shared the NRL competition lead for the past three weeks.

Reynolds changed the momentum of the match and his enthusiasm was best exemplified when he led a tackle by four Canterbury players that drove St George Illawarra fullback Josh Dugan into his own in-goal in the 65th minute of the match.

Front-rower Tim Brown crashed over off a Sam Kasiano pass just a minute later to regain a lead the Bulldogs had held until the 46th minute when England five eighth Gareth Widdop scored his second try.

Kasiano then scored himself in the 75th minute to seal the win.

Asked about his starting role in the halves, Mbye, who was named man-of-the-match, said: ‘‘That is where I have played most of my football. Obviously, at this club we are blessed with quality halves and two Origin playmakers so I have been biding my time.’’

With Hodkinson off contract at the end of the season and yet to resign, there will be increased speculation about his future at Belmore.

Both he and Mbye are understood to be targets for Gold Coast after Daly Cherry-Evans reneged on a four-year deal and Aidan Sezer signed with Canberra. However, Bulldogs officials have made it clear they will not grant Mbye a release from the final year of his contract and he showed why from the outset of Monday’s match when he combined with the Morris twins, Brett and Josh, to lay on a try for winger Curtis Rona in the seventh minute.

A long pass from Mbye to Rona near halfway led to another try after the NRL’s leading try scorer kicked ahead and Josh Morris won the race for the ball to score in the 20th minute.

Back-to-back tries laid on by Benji Marshall for Widdop in the 33rd and 46th minutes helped the Dragons take control of the match and when Mata’utia scored off a Widdop kick in the 57th minute Canterbury seemed to be running out of steam but the injection of Reynolds changed the game.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

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