Wests Tigers ease past toothless Newcastle Knights

NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS 6 WESTS TIGERS 20
STEPHEN IBBETSON, McDonald Jones Stadium, Sunday

WESTS ended an eight-game run of losses to Newcastle for a deserved third victory of the season.

Edged out by two points in round one’s reverse fixture, the Tigers were much the better team in this quick rematch and kept the toothless Knights to nil until the final minute.

Starting props Terrell May and Fonua Pole laid the foundations for a success which takes them not only into the top eight, but halfway to last season’s win tally after just six rounds.

Although it wasn’t a top-quality game, with a high error count for both sides, a new-look Wests squad do look well placed to avoid the club’s fourth straight wooden spoon.

Sunia Turuva was denied a try in the corner early on but he managed to strike the first points in the 19th minute, bouncing off two defenders in the corner on the end of good play by Lachlan Galvin and Jahream Bula plus the perfectly-timed assist of his centre Starford To’a.

To’a then scored Wests’ second himself, taking a pass off Galvin from a scrum with a committed run into the line which saw him break the attempted tackle of Bradman Best and then palm off Fletcher Sharpe.

And fullback Bula made it three Tigers tries in 14 minutes with a classy effort, collecting his own short kick in behind the defence with opposite number Kalyn Ponga nowhere to be seen.

Adam Doueihi converted that effort after two previous misses as they took a fairly comfortable 0-14 lead into the break.

Tempers flared twelve minutes into the second half when centres Dane Gagai and To’a exchanged pushes and pleasantries, with each offered ten-minute breathers by referee Gerard Sutton.

The penalty from that incident went the way of the Tigers and Doueihi successful slotted the goal between the posts for 0-16, before adding his side’s final try while the contest was twelve-on-twelve.

Jermaine McEwen dropped the ball cold as he ran it in from deep in his own half, Samuela Fainu picked it up and Jarome Luai immediately identified the space out left, picking out centre Doueihi.

That error summed up Newcastle’s performance, and they could have had few complaints if they ended the game scoreless.

Indeed, they could have lost by more, with Tallyn Da Silva’s effort harshly ruled out for a Turuva push on Best.

But the Knights’ late rally of sorts – which saw Phoenix Crossland denied by a brilliant Samuela Fainu tackle – was rewarded with a try in the final moments.

Off a scrum, Sharpe kicked behind and backpedalling Turuva could only knock the ball back into the path of Sharpe.

But that effort does nothing to hide Newcastle’s current attacking problems – while only table-topping Canterbury have conceded fewer points, they are by far the lowest scorers in the NRL with a paltry 46 points from five games.

GAMESTAR: Terrell May was a dominant force in the middle for the Tigers.

GAMEBREAKER: Newcastle never looked like making a comeback but the task was made impossible by a self-inflicted final try for Adam Doueihi.

MATCHFACTS
KNIGHTS
1 Kalyn Ponga
2 Kyle McCarthy
3 Dane Gagai
4 Bradman Best
5 Greg Marzhew
6 Fletcher Sharpe
7 Phoenix Crossland
10 Leo Thompson
9 Jayden Brailey
15 Tyrone Thompson
11 Thomas Cant
12 Kai Pearce-Paul
13 Tyson Frizell
Subs (all used)
8 Brodie Jones
14 Matthew Arthur
16 Jermaine McEwen
17 Mat Croker

Tries: Sharpe (80)
Goals: Ponga 0/1
Sin bin: Gagai (53) – fighting

TIGERS
1 Jahream Bula
2 Sunia Turuva
3 Adam Doueihi
4 Starford To’a
5 Jeral Skelton
6 Lachlan Galvin
7 Jarome Luai
8 Terrell May
9 Api Koroisau
10 Fonua Pole
11 Samuela Fainu
12 Alex Sayfarth
13 Alex Twal
Subs (all used)
14 Tallyn Da Silva
15 Royce Hunt
16 Jack Bird
17 Sione Fainu