By Nathan Beuman
The St George Illawarra Dragons will be looking to continue their winning ways when they face the New Zealand Warriors at Westpac Stadium, Wellington on Saturday (5.30pm).
The Red-and-Whites will be hoping to come away with a better result across the Tasman Sea having been defeated by the Melbourne Storm in Napier a fortnight ago.
The Dragons welcome back lock Trent Merrin to their ranks for the encounter and will be hoping to capitalise off the fact their opposition have scored just 26 points in their last three outings following the loss of play-maker Shaun Johnson.
Despite their offensive hardship in recent weeks, the Warriors still average 20.1 points per game (seventh most in the competition), compared to the Dragons 16.1 (second fewest in the competition).
It is in defence, however, where the Dragons have found most of their success this season, holding teams to just 16.1 points per game (third fewest in the competition), compared to the Warriors’ 21.2 (sixth most in the competition).
Team Changes
Apart from the long awaited return of Merrin into the starting 17, Head Coach Paul McGregor has named Kiti Glymin on the wing in lieu of the injured Jason Nightingale.
Meanwhile, captain Ben Creagh is set to start the game in the front-row, forcing Will Matthews back onto a seven-man extended interchange bench.
Warriors Head Coach Andrew McFadden has made just the one change to his line-up from last weekends 18-14 loss to the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, with Jonathan Wright taking the place of Konrad Hurrell.
History
The New Zealand Warriors fans traditionally have had very little to cheer about when they come up against the Dragons, winning just four of their 22 meetings, with their last win coming back in July 2007.
While Westpac Stadium is completely foreign territory for the Dragons, the Warriors have won just one of their seven matches at the Wellington based venue.
