Jersey Flegg: Dragons take down Warriors, secure 6th-straight win

Nganatatafu Vake threatened early for the Warriors out of acting half and looked to have nabbed first points only for the officials to rule a penalty.

The Warriors conceded another penalty whilst in possession their next set with the Dragons denied their first points off it as Hodges ventured down a short right side and crafted a flick to Saifiti Junior Saifiti that was ruled forward.

Completed sets became a rarity in the opening exchanges with both sides struggling with handling and discipline.

Despite dealing with a truckload of early defensive pressure, the Dragons managed to draw first blood with Marley McLaren poking his nose through on the last and fashioning an offload to Creighton Meafou who moved it back inside to a supporting Hodges to score.

Weatherall was sent to the sin-bin for the Dragons shortly after and, despite absorbing some more pressure, the hosts eventually cracked as Harry Inch found Mark Sikuvea with a nice tap-on to go over in the left-hand corner and give his side a 6-4 lead.

Back-to-back penalties the following set sent the Warriors straight back into attacking territory and they took advantage of a fatigued Dragons defensive line with Amasio Tiatia burrowing his way over out of dummy-half to push their lead beyond a converted try.

The Dragons looked to have snatched a try on the stroke of half-time with McLaren firing a cut-out the way of Saifiti which was again ruled forward.

The Warriors made an error in their opening set of the second half with Hodges continuing his strong morning off it throwing a nice dummy and slicing through to score his second try of the match.

He converted his own try from just to the left of the posts to bring the Red V back within two.

Hodges put in a pinpoint kick the next set to earn his side a repeat set with Weatherall making amends for his first-half sin-bin off the back of it muscling his way over to the right of the uprights to put the Dragons back on top.

The Dragons’ blistering start to the second half continued soon after with McLaren again sending Meafou into space who showed great patience to find an offload to a supporting Bailey Carmichael who dove over untouched to make it a double-digit difference.

The Warriors found a needed hit-back off the back of a strong Emosi Ravosai carry with Tiatia slamming the ball down for his second to bring the visitors back within four.

Sikuvea nabbed his second for the Warriors in the left-hand corner with 15 on the clock to tie things up at 22-apiece.

Motu Pasikala was sent to the sin-bin for the Warriors the next set for taking out Kye Andrews after he had taken the ball on the full in-goal and was making a beeline to the 20-metre line.

It paved the way for the Red V to retake the lead with David Afu bumping away from a defender and moving the ball onto Saifiti who powered his way over in the right corner. Hodges nailed the conversion from the touchline to make it 28-22 with a little over five minutes to play.

With time ticking away, it was Hodges who again stepped up for the Red V to nail a phenomenal 40/20 and earn possession back from his side.

The Dragons earnt a penalty in front of the sticks several plays later with Hodges knocking over a penalty goal as the siren sounded seal the win for the Red V on home turf.