Knock-On Effect NSW Cup: Dragons dominate Manly at Collegians

Both sides had early opportunities, but several last tackle plays went awry as the contest remained in search of its first points.

It took close to 24 minutes, but Ben Rumble found the first points of the afternoon for the hosts on the end of a right-side shift in which second-rower-turned-centre Nick Tsougranis showcased a nice pair of hands for the final pass.

Raymond Faitala-Mariner went within inches of extending the hosts’ lead only for the ball to be dislodged from his grasp just shy of the grass.

The Dragons found a fortuitous try prior to half-time with Manly appearing to have repelled the attack raid with an intercept only to have lost it into the waiting arms of Nathan Lawson who jogged over to score and make it a 10-point game.

Willie Talau’s men managed to find another before the half-time siren sounded with Lawson finishing off a textbook shift play to dive over in the left corner off the back of a high tackle penalty.

Manly centre Max Hayley left the field in their first set of the second half for a HIA before the Red V found their fourth try of the afternoon.

Faitala-Mariner powered his way through an army of defenders to get the ball to the turf with Jonah Glover knocking over the conversion to make it 20-0.

The Dragons’ dominance persisted with Lawson finding his third try of the encounter off a deft Lyhkan King-Togia grubber to make the lead an imposing one for the hosts.

Antonio Taufa went close to finding Manly’s first an hour in only to be denied with officials observing a forward pass in the lead-up.

Instead, the Dragons nabbed another try off the back of it with King-Togia slipping into space before finding a supporting Cody Ramsey on the inside to race away and dive over under the sticks and continue the side’s march towards a key win.

The buffer ballooned out to 36-0 soon after with Tsougranis diving over in the right corner after the Dragons had again stripped Manly’s edge for numbers.

Jake Arthur dummied his way over to snag a consolation try for the Sea Eagles with five minutes on the clock.

The result had been wrapped up however with the Dragons taking finishing things off to nab a handy win.