Dragons go down to Warriors at death

The Dragons halves tested the Warriors back three early with a pair of attacking kicks which went close to producing results.

Instead, it was the Warriors who nabbed the first points of the evening through Luke Metcalf who split a pair of defenders to slam the ball down to the right of the sticks and make it 6-0.

Back-to-back penalties handed the Warriors a gift two points to extend their lead beyond a converted try 12 minutes into proceedings.

A Jaydn Su’A offload sparked an enterprising piece of Dragons play soon after with Valentine Holmes steaming into the backfield and handing the ball off to Clint Gutherson who was dragged down agonisingly short.

The Warriors’ rapid start persisted their next set with Taine Tauapiki diving over in the southeast corner off a knocked back kick as their buffer went out to a dozen.

Toby Couchman left the field a little over a quarter of the way in with an apparent shoulder concern bringing Dylan Egan into the action.

The Warriors lodged a Captain’s Challenge half an hour into the contest to overturn an on-field ruling of a knock-on and gift them another penalty to add to their lead further.

Pasifiki Tonga was inserted into the action as Metcalf’s penalty goal sailed over for his first taste of NRL action after being presented his debut jersey earlier in the week.

Jacob Liddle’s knack of finding tries after being injected into the action looked to have again reared its head prior to the break only for the zippy No.14 to be held up over the line.

A successful Captain’s Challenge saw the Red V earn another opportunity attacking the Warriors line and they would not be denied with Holmes poking his nose through off some soft Luciano Leilua hands and hitting a supporting Gutherson with an offload to dive over in the left corner to bring it back to 14-4.

Erin Clark was placed on report for a high shot early in the second forty giving the Dragons an opportunity again in coveted field position.

A raft of set restarts eventually resulted in Egan pouring through a hole to score off a sweet piece of Jack de Belin ball-playing as the deficit was cut back to 14-10.

The Dragons’ wave of momentum continued the next set with another high tackle penalty sending them downfield as Corey Allan notched his first try as a Dragon.

Allan scooped up a well-timed Lyhkan King-Togia grubber by a matter of millimetres and absorbed some contact to get the ball to the turf and tie things up at 14-apiece.

The hosts fired in an inconclusive Captain’s Challenge looking to overturn a knock-on call but found a way to hold the Warriors out off it with Gutherson coming up with an inspirational kick defusal to end the raid.

The Warriors lodged a second successful Captain’s Challenge the next set to storm right back onto the attack, but the Red V wall again held strong to repel the raid.

Metcalf knocked over an easy field goal to give the visitors a one-point advantage with 10 minutes remaining.

Holmes had an opportunity to answer with a touch over five minutes on the clock, but his field goal attempt went wide right.

The Dragons lost their Captain’s Challenge in a last-ditch attempt to win back possession with a little over 60 seconds to play as they fell to their third one-point loss of the season.