Knock-On Effect NSW Cup: Dragons thump Wests, retain Roy Masters Cup

It took less than 10 minutes for the Dragons to draw first blood with Ben Rumble on the end of a textbook, fifth-tackle shift out to the right to make it 4-0.

Vaka Aho limped off for the Magpies in the aftermath of the try as their middle depth copped an early blow.

The Dragons stormed right back downfield their next set to go bang-bang with Sione Finau pouncing on a Jonah Glover bomb which had been knocked back and toed through by Hayden Buchanan.

Glover added the extras to make it a double-digit Dragons lead.

Izaac Tu’itupou claimed a try for the hosts soon after, but a desperate Nick Tsougranis scramble effort denied the powerful winger.

The Magpies were whistled for dissent off it, but the Red V were unable to make them pay with Finau ruled to have thrown a forward pass off a nice break.

The next points belonged to the Magpies off a piggybacking penalty with centre Max Liles dummying and stepping his way to the chalk on a last tackle dart.

The Dragons responded nearly instantly however with Jacob Halangahu finding Tsougranis with a phenomenal offload to lay on the side’s third of the afternoon.

The Red V’s right edge found more success the very next set with Connor Muhleisen taking off down a narrow short side and finding Tsougranis who sped into space.

Tsougranis moved the football on to his winger Rumble who threw a pass back on the inside to captain Cody Ramsey to slam it down.

The Magpies had no answers for the Dragons’ lethal right edge with Rumble nabbing his second off the afternoon off a pristine cut-out ball as the scoreline ballooned out to 28-6 half an hour in.

The Dragons’ red-hot attack persisted shortly after with Ramsey shooting into space off a Rumble offload and crafting a beautiful chip for a chasing Lachlan Ilias to score.

The visitors’ sizzling opening stanza ended in terrific fashion with Ramsey picking up a Magpies drop as the siren sounded to race the length of the field and snatch his second of the afternoon grow the lead out to 40-6.

The first points of the second forty belonged to Wests with Tu’itupou muscling his way over for them in the left corner.

The visitors took little time to hit back with Buchanan surging into space down the left flank and finding a supporting Ilias on the inside for his second of the encounter.

The Dragons continued to motor towards a big score with Ilias sending Raymond Faitala-Mariner over as the side hit the half-century mark.

The Magpies stopped the bleeding momentarily with Krystian Mapapalangi skying to score off a cross-field Kurt Falls kick.

The hosts went back-to-back the following set with Falls scoring off a spilt grubber to kick to bring it back to 50-24 with a quarter of the contest remaining.

Haele Finau snagged the Red V’s 10th try of the afternoon on the other side of the hour mark burrowing his way over out of dummy half off a strong Blake Lawrie carry.

Rumble was denied his third moments later with the officials ruling a forward pass in the lead-up but wouldn’t be stopped on the next occasion with Tsougranis again muscling his way into space before finding his winger with a gorgeous flick pass as the lead grew out to 60-22.

The Magpies found a try on the stroke of full-time, but it proved little consolation with the Red V storming to a massive win away from home.