The Illawarra Cutters defeated the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 26-22 at Belmore Sports Ground on Saturday.
The Illawarra Cutters were bolstered by the addition of ten players from the St George Illawarra Dragons to their ranks for the second pre-season hit-out.
The Cutters overcame the wet conditions to gain an early lead and never relinquished it with a Tyron Cranston try in the corner in the second minute of play.
The visitors continued their good start when Ryan Carr extended their lead to 8-0 after diving on his own grubber in the in-goal.
The Cutters extended their first half lead through Shannon Wakeman who crashed over from short range.
Cranston was on hand to convert to make it 14-0.
However, the Bulldogs had a small fight back by the end of the first half managing to score a converted try in reply.
The Bulldogs started from where they left off in the first half and reduced the Cutters lead to 14-10.
The Cutters struck back when they needed too through a Nathan Smith try in the 55th minute.
Cranston converted the extras to make it 20-10.
The Bulldogs continued to fight back however, and reduced the Cutters lead to 20-16.
The visitors re-extended their buffer out to six through Sam Duggan’s efforts and the later conversion to Cranston.
A late Bulldogs converted try was awarded but it was not enough to stop the Cutters winning 26-22.
The St George Illawarra Dragons National Youth Competition team defeated their Bulldogs counterparts 44-20 in their earlier trial at the same venue.
The Young Dragons scored 11 tries in their second pre-season outing which was played over three stanzas in muggy conditions.
