Dragons fightback falls short in season opener

The Dragons got off to a horror start with an opening-play error gifting the visitors an early opportunity, but the Red V wall held strong to force a Viliame Kikau mistake.

Jack de Belin gave Connor Tracey an early welcome to Kogarah dumping the Canterbury fullback on his back in bruising fashion as he carted it out of his own end.

It was the Bulldogs who crossed first however through Marcelo Montoya who finished off a left-hand shift to bump his way over in the corner to make it 4-0.

A Montoya error the corresponding set handed the Red V an opportunity to attack with Tuipulotu awarded a penalty try off it.

The Dragons winger was on the end of some slick Clint Gutherson and Valentine Holmes hands, but lost the ball in the grounding attempt as a result of a stray Stephen Crichton knee.

The Bulldogs captain was put on report in the aftermath of it all and Holmes threw over the conversion from in front to give his side their first lead of the evening.

Jaydn Su’A found himself in the thick of things soon after scooping up a loose ball and shooting off into space to earn his side some momentum.

Jacob Preston was placed on report several plays later as a result of a hit on Holmes off the ball, but the Dragons’ raid was thwarted off it.

Moses Suli saved a try the following set after dragging Matt Burton into touch with Ryan Couchman limping up the tunnel afterwards.

Couchman’s departure saw Stewart inserted into the contest for his first taste of NRL action.

Jack de Belin left the field moments later for a HIA – which he ultimately passed – seeing Emre Guler put back on the pitch with Kyle Flanagan coming up with a big defensive play off it win possession back for his side.

Canterbury found their second a half-hour in with Blake Wilson strolling over in the right-hand corner off an attacking scrum to make it 10-6.

They extended their lead soon after through Tracey who took in a Kikau offload and outmuscled the defence to ground the ball and give his side a double-figure edge.

The Dragons lodged a captain’s challenge which was deemed successful minutes shy of the break with Tuipulotu coming within inches of his second only to be dragged down short of the stripe off the back of it.

The visitors surged further ahead of the other side of the break via Sitili Tupouniua who stormed through to score on club debut to make it 22-6.

Tupouniua found a second under the sticks just minutes later as the contest began to get away from Shane Flanagan’s men.

Tuipulotu found a try-scoring double of his own soon after with the Dragons taking advantage of an overlap created by Crichton’s absence in the line on account of an injury in back-play.

Guler was placed on report for a hip drop on Jacob Preston with 18 minutes remaining.

Jacob Liddle conjured a sensation individual effort out of virtually nothing taking a quick tap from within his own half, splitting a pair of defenders, and burning Tracey at the back to bring his side back within a dozen entering the final 10.

The Dragons’ late fightback persisted with Tuipulotu finishing off a phenomenal team effort which started from his own side of halfway.

A handful of offloads saw Gutherson pick up the football and find Lachlan Ilias who stepped his way into space and looked destined to score only for a Tracey cover tackle.

Liddle sent the ball left out of dummy half with Gutherson tipping it out to Tuipulotu who held off the cover and managed to ground the ball to cut the deficit back to eight.

Unfortunately, the comeback had run out of steam from there with the Bulldogs hanging on to secure the competition points.