Dragons fall to Dolphins in Brisbane

It proved a fiery opening with Felise Kaufusi placed on report in the opening set of the contest for a late shot on Dragons halfback Kyle Flanagan.

Valentine Holmes took the opportunity to step up and nail a penalty goal from 40 metres out to give the visitors a quick two-point buffer.

The Dolphins managed the first four-pointer of the night however through Herbie Farnworth who muscled his way over in the northwestern corner off a shift.

Jamayne Isaako’s conversion attempt cannoned off the right post and out as the scoreline remained 4-2.

After forcing an error off their next field-of-play kick, the Dolphins were able to find a try in the opposite corner with Isaako diving his way over to finish off another slick shift before converting his own try to extend their edge out to eight.

Lyhkan King-Togia went within inches of responding for the Red V after Clint Gutherson fashioned a deft kick off a Raymond Faitala-Mariner offload.

Video officials ruled that King-Togia lost the ball in-goal after reeling it in cleanly and absorbing contact from a pair of defenders.

Tuipulotu left the field in the aftermath of it with an apparent hamstring concern forcing the Dragons into a backline re-shuffle with Holmes shifting out to the wing, Damien Cook into the centres, and Jacob Liddle coming on at hooker.

Kodi Nikorima took advantage of a jagged Dragons defensive line off it to step his way through and over the stripe as the lead ballooned out to 16-2 a little over a quarter of the way in.

The Dolphins’ strong opening forty continued moments later with Connelly Lemuelu, fresh on the field, pouring through to swallow an Isaiya Katoa bomb and score.

The hosts nabbed another prior to the half with Jack Bostock climbing up to take in another Katoa kick and get the ball to the turf to make it 28-2.

Half-time did little to turn the tide with Lemuelu finding his second of the night off a Katoa offload to make the difference an imposing one for the visitors.

Their next points came via Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow who went over untouched after Jake Averillo spewed into the backfield and found his supporting fullback.

Katoa’s boot continued to produce results for the hosts with the No.7 notching a 40/20 soon after to lay the platform for Isaako to score his second.

The Dolphins remained relentless in their search for points with Tabuai-Fidow finding his second off a Bostock break down the left flank an hour in.

The Dragons found their first try of the night with 16 minutes on the clock through Holmes who found himself open down the left flank after King-Togia crafted a sweet cut-out for Cook who quickly moved the ball on.

As the clock wound down, the points dried up ever so slightly but Farnworth nabbed his second of the encounter seconds shy of the final hooter to put a bow on the Dolphins win.