Sunday’s NRL 2018 Round 4 match is between St George Illawarra Dragons and Newcastle Knights. The opening kick is set to commence at 16:10 local time with the game to be played at WIN Stadium. The home team St George Illawarra Dragons are the favourites for the match. View our preview and teams for the game between St George Illawarra Dragons and Newcastle Knights.
When: 16:10 | Sunday 01/04/2018
Where: WIN Stadium
Preview:
Ponga is a terrific young player with a wider range of skills and he’ll win the battle.
The Verdict
On the back of the Dragons’ forwards, Saints to go marching in for another win.
Odds:
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Tip: St George Illawarra Dragons at $1.31
Value Tip: First Try Scorer: Jason Nightingale at $10.00
More Info:
Teams:
St George Illawarra Dragons:
1 Matthew Dufty, 2 Nene Macdonald, 3 Euan Aitken, 4 Tim Lafai, 5 Jason Nightingale, 6 Gareth Widdop (c), 7 Ben Hunt, 8 James Graham, 9 Cameron McInnes, 10 Paul Vaughan, 11 Tyson Frizell, 12 Tariq Sims, 13 Jack De Belin
Interchange: 14 Luciano Leilua, 15 Kurt Mann, 16 Leeson Ah Mau, 17 Hame Sele
Reserves: 18 Jeremy Latimore, 19 Zachary Lomax, 20 Jacob Host, 21 Blake Lawrie.
Newcastle Knights:
1 Kalyn Ponga, 2 Shaun Kenny-Dowall, 3 Sione Mata’utia, 4 Tautau Moga, 5 Nathan Ross, 6 Brock Lamb, 7 Mitchell Pearce (c), 8 Herman Ese’ese, 9 Slade Griffin, 10 Jacob Lillyman, 11 Lachlan Fitzgibbon, 12 Aidan Guerra, 13 Mitchell Barnett
Interchange: 14 Jamie Buhrer (c), 15 Chris Heighington, 16 Jacob Saifiti, 17 Daniel Saifiti
Reserves: 18 Ken Sio, 19 Jack Cogger, 20 Danny Levi, 21 Luke Yates.
NRL News:
Ashley Taylor endured a horror homecoming as St George Illawarra destroyed his Gold Coast side in Toowoomba on Sunday.
The Dragons won 54-8 – with Tim Lafai and Matt Dufty both crossing for three tries – while Taylor was reported for tripping and twice kicking restarts out on the full in a nightmare outing at Clive Berghofer Stadium.
The Toowoomba product was also forced to pass a concussion test at halftime as the unbeaten Dragons scored nine tries to one in the city’s first NRL game.
The Titans entered the match with the league’s worst defence after missing 82 tackles across the opening two rounds and it didn’t improve as their right edge was brutally exposed by the red-hot Dragons.
“There’s probably a little bit of a lack of trust out there,” Titans coach Garth Brennan said of his side’s defence.
“You’ve got to be on and today defensively we weren’t … we need to be better than that but I don’t think they gave up.”
They produced the worst possible start when Kane Elgey knocked on from the kick-off, with fullback Dufty crossing inside 90 seconds.
Gold Coast steadied from there though, Taylor’s short ball giving Michael Gordon his first try in Titans colours.
They briefly looked the better side as Bryce Cartwright and Konrad Hurrell both spilled the ball with the try-line at their mercy.
But the Titans let the Dragons into the game with back-to-back penalties and Taylor’s errant boot as centre Lafai combined with Dufty for three tries in four minutes to close the half.
“We fought really hard in the middle part of that first half to get some domination … we had control from there,” Dragons coach Paul McGregor said.
A professional foul from Jack de Belin and subsequent sin-bin early in the second half should have given the Titans a way back in.
Instead former Titan Nene MacDonald rubbed salt into the wounds with a try in the corner and Ben Hunt combined with halves partner Gareth Widdop to toy with Garth Brennan’s side.
“Game management around that time (of the sin-bin) was really good; it’s pleasing when you can defend your line and turn that loss into a gain,” McGregor said.
The newly-formed halves duo did as they pleased as the Titans dropped off a staggering 45 tackles and looked lost when the Dragons spread the ball wide.
Both men put in kicks to set up late tries as the Titans’ defence clocked off, allowing both Dufty and Lafai to notch a hat-trick of tries.