The Dragons were unable to chase down the Wests Tigers in their Indigenous Round showdown at Allianz Stadium on Sunday falling 16-12.
Indigenous Round celebrations were in full swing with proud Gweagal and Wiradjuri woman Ella Koster and proud Wiradjuri and Dunghutti woman Ahlivia Ingram leading the side out.
The opening stanza went hardly by the script for the Red V with Hannah Southwell spending 10 minutes in the sin bin and Kasey Reh 15 minutes in the sheds for a HIA as the Wests Tigers jumped out to a three-tries-to-one advantage.
Tori Shipton set the contest alight in the second half with a multitude of dangerous scoots but, despite the rookie rake snagging the first try of her first-grade career, the Dragons’ fightback fell short.
Match: Wests Tigers v Dragons
Round 7 -
home Team
Wests Tigers
11th Position
away Team
Dragons
10th Position
Venue: Allianz Stadium, Sydney
The Wests Tigers were able to open the scoring through five-eighth Jetaya Faifua who stepped her way to the line after the hosts enjoyed the bulk of early territory.
Southwell was placed on report and binned for a dangerous throw the following set as the early momentum remained with the Wests Tigers.
The Dragons lock would not return to the field however as she nursed a head knock.
Reh copped a head knock just several plays later and was taken from the field for a HIA – which she passed – bringing Shipton into the action.
Tiana-Lee Thorne went over for the home side in the left-hand corner off the back of it to extend their lead to double figures less than 10 minutes in.
Teagan Berry went close to crafting a response for the Dragons using her pace on a left-side sweep play only for video officials to rule a bobble as she made her way to the stripe.
Berry and Tyra Ekepati combined the Dragons’ next set to manufacture a break off the kick return, and they bore the fruits later in the set with halves partners Raecene McGregor and Zali Hopkins linking.
McGregor put in a perfectly weighted grubber for her five-eighth to dive on the right of the posts and cut the deficit back to 10-6.
Thorne went close to notching her second of the afternoon off a Faifua cut-out but was denied on account of a forward pass.
Faifua instead found her second moments later with the Wests Tigers five-eighth diving over out of acting half off the back of a Kezie Apps break to push their edge back out to 16-6.
Berry came up with a superb try-saver on Rebecca Pollard just two minutes out from the intermission to ensure the half-time deficit remained at 10.
Shipton made a brilliant break through the middle in the early goings of the second half, but the Dragons were unable to capitalise off it with the Wests Tigers scramble coming up trumps.
Caitlin Turnbull appealed for a try for the Wests Tigers soon after but was ruled by video officials to have promoted the ball illegally.
Shipton forced her way to the line to find a needed four-pointer – and the first of her NRLW career – for the Dragons with 15 minutes remaining off a late Shenai Lendill offload.
McGregor added the extras to bring the scoreline back to 16-12 for the Dragons entering the home stretch.
The Dragons lost Ingram to a HIA with just seven minutes on the clock after she collided with Keele Browne in a tackle attempt.
NRLW Match Highlights: Round 7 v Wests Tigers
With four minutes to play, Jade Fonua was held up over the line for the Wests Tigers as the remained in the fight by the barest of margins.
The Dragons lodged a Captain’s Challenge moments later in an attempt to overturn a knock-on call but were unsuccessful.
The visitors launched a pair of late raids, but the Wests Tigers defence held strong as they held on for victory.
