Dragons unable to chase down Eels

A horror start saw the Dragons concede the opening points of the afternoon with Will Penisini crashing over off a Dylan Brown short ball to make it 4-0 as Daejarn Asi’s conversion attempt was waved away.

The hosts went back-to-back with Maika Sivo powering his way over in the right corner off a Blaize Talagi tip-on to make it a 10-point game 10 minutes into the affair.

Jake Tago went close to piling on further points for the Eels off a scrappy last tackle sequence only for the Dragons cover to force a drop.

Clinton Gutherson fired in an unsuccessful challenge the Dragons’ next possession in an attempt to overturn a ruck penalty.

Muhleisen wrestled his way over for the first try of his NRL career off the back it after a charging Jaydn Su’A managed to stand in the tackle and find his supporting hooker with a late offload.

The visitors went close to finding another with Zac Lomax winning the chase to a Ben Hunt grubber only for the video officials to rule a knock-on in the grounding attempt.

It was instead the Eels who were next to strike with Sivo powering his way into the backfield and finding a supporting Gutherson on his inside to extend their lead back to double digits.

The Dragons also lost their challenge 25 minutes in with video officials ruling that Mikaele Ravalawa had lost possession in a tackle rather than having it helped out.

The visitors were denied by video officials for a second time soon after with Mathew Feagai having the ball stripped out by Gutherson as he made a beeline for the stripe, but the Red V were awarded the scrum feed.

They were denied another try off the scrum with Sloan muscling his way over only for the side to be whistled for an obstruction in the lead-up.

Tago found the hosts’ fourth moments later off a looping Dylan Brown cut-out as the buffer ballooned out to 14 points.

Mathew Feagai left the field for a HIA – which he ultimately passed – in the aftermath forcing a backline reshuffle with Lyhkan King-Togia coming into the action at five-eighth.

Shaun Lane crossed to extend the hosts’ lead prior to the break with Asi’s conversion making it 26-6.

Their onslaught continued into their opening set of the second half with Blaize Talagi breaking through on a fifth-tackle short-side play and hitting a supporting Dylan Brown on his inside.

Gutherson was the next to score for the Eels after Brown poured into space down the right edge and hit his fullback on his inside.

Lomax strolled over in the right corner off a quick set of Jack Bird hands with the winger converting his try to halt the Eels’ wave momentarily.

Sivo grabbed a second soon after to continue his strong afternoon as the home side continued charging towards the two competition points.

The Fijian international’s hat-trick came moments later after he was handed a path to the line off a fifth-tackle offload.

Mathew Feagai found a try for the Red V with Luciano Leilua going aerial to bat a cross-field King-Togia kick back to his centre who dove over in the left corner.

A fifth-tackle raid produced another try the Dragons’ next set with Leilua sending a cut-out the way of Ravalawa who tiptoed down the sideline and tossed the ball back inside to King-Togia.

The teenager threw the last pass back on the inside to a supporting Sloan who finished the sequence off.

A Hunt chip kick yielded a result for the Red V in the final stages with the ball bouncing perfectly into the arms of a chasing Sloan who swerved past the fullback to nab his second.

Feagai also found a second try for the visitors off a Hunt kick in the final stages with the No.3 scooping up a grubber from 30 metres out and brushing past the cover to dive over and cut the scoreline back to 44-36.

Feagai secured his hat-trick in the final seconds of the game off a Raymond Faitala-Mariner grubber as the Dragons edged closer to pulling off a miracle comeback only for it to come up short on the final play.