Late tries save Dragons

A late flurry of tries saved the Ngatangiia-Matavera Dragons on Saturday from going down to the Tupapa Panthers in a mostly unconvincing win for the ladder leaders.

Neither team was able to string together a good section of play for the first three-quarters of the match, the game pockmarked with unforced errors and penalties being given away by both sides.

In a game of two-halves it was the Panthers, playing into a slight head-wind in the first half, that looked to be building towards a likely win.

The team started to dominate the set piece scrum and lineout and the crucial breakdown areas with both Kore and Eddie Herman featuring.

The Panthers led at the halftime break 3-0. In the second half the Panthers extended their lead to 9-0, courtesy of Wallace Aroitas booming boot that saw him make a 52-metre special.

Pre-match it was predicted that whoever won the duel of the midfield would dictate the outcome of this match and that is exactly what happened.

A late-powerhouse display by the Dragons midfield pairing of Thomas Toa and Sailosi Nagi resulted in the Dragons scoring three brilliant second-half tries to win this match 21-9.

A late-change of the Dragons game strategy of running instead of kicking and the introduction of energetic loose forward Maara Ioakopa helped the team take advantage of the 14-man Panthers squad.

As a Panther looked on from the sin-bin, the Dragons scored 14 points and found a new fire.

The plan of attack was obviously led by their strong-running midfielders Toa and Nagi who both scored crucial tries, aptly supported by Ioakopa, Usa Tivo, Willie Kauvai Jnr and Aseli Babu.

By the end of the match, the Dragons looked comfortable playing their natural 15-man game as opposed to kicking away hard-won possession.

A fitter-looking Dragons upped the tempo in the final stages of the second half, tapping all penalties and running everything at their opposition. They set the phases and then built pressure to go over the line for three well-taken team tries.

The Panthers, on the other hand, were falling-off tackles and struggling to keep pace in the final quarter of the match.

Bests for the Panthers were the Herman cousins Ed and Kore and inside-centre Mau George, who tried hard but lacked cohesion at vital stages of this match.

In the other matches of the weekend, the Avatiu Eels easily accounted for the Titikaveka Bulls, posting a 50-21 win at their home ground.

At Takuvaine, The Arorangi Cowboys defeated their hosts the Takuvaine Reds 41-12.

In next weekends matches, the Dragons will travel to Titikaveka to play the Bulls, the Cowboys will host the Panthers and the Reds will take on the Eels at Takuvaine.