A Jason Nightingale hat-trick has helped reignite St George Illawarra’s NRL season after they scored a 27-24 win over an undermanned North Queensland at Jubilee Oval on Saturday night.
In a see-sawing match, Nightingale crossed for a controversial winner seven minutes from fulltime.
The Dragons grabbed prime field position when Gerard Beale raced 90 metres downfield after it appeared he had knocked on an attempted intercept.
The officials let the play go and Nightingale touched down with a spectacular finish a few plays later.
Gareth Widdop iced the game with a field goal two minutes later, much to the delight to the 12,082-strong parochial crowd.
Cowboys backrower Jason Taumalolo scored a late consolation try but it was too little too late as the Dragons jumped to within a win of the top eight while the Cowboys remain winless away from home this season.
The game took several twists and turns as the Cowboys, missing 10 regular first graders and fielding three debutants in Sam Hoare, Ben Spina and Zac Santo, faded late in the match.
It didn’t take long for Cowboys centre Tautau Moga, making his club debut following a mid-season transfer from the Roosters and playing his first NRL game since September 2012, to make an impact.
On the back of three repeat sets, he laid on a superb ball to put Antonio Winterstein over in the corner in the fifth minute.
While the early momentum was with the visitors, the Dragons took the lead with two tries in four minutes.
First a Widdop floating pass put Charly Runciman into space before Nightingale went over in the opposite corner shortly after.
When Adam Quinlan collected a Benji Marshall banana kick in the 26th minute, the Dragons went up 14-4.
However the Cowboys reduced the deficit to just four at halftime when in the shadow of the break makeshift halfback Michael Morgan threw a beautiful cut-out pass to set up Winterstein’s second try.
The Dragons took a 14-10 lead into halftime. But the Cowboys came storming out of the blocks in the second half and took the lead four minutes after the resumption of play when Tariq Sims stormed over and Ethan Lowe converted.
They should have gone further ahead soon after when Moga bombed a certain try when he failed to shovel it onto Antonio Winterstein, who had the line open in front of him.
However it mattered little as Curtis Rona crossed minutes later.
Just when it seemed the pendulum had swung in the Cowboys’ favour, the Dragons levelled things up at 20-20 when Nightingale got his double and the home side finished the stronger to take a valuable win.
