NRL: Dragons breathe fire against Manly

Jason Nightingale congratulates Mark Gasnier of the Dragons after he scored a try. Photo / Getty Images

SYDNEY -It took them more than three quarters of the match to break out of their shell, but St George Illawarra managed what they couldn't last year, progressing to an NRL preliminary final with a 28-0 win over Manly at WIN Jubilee Oval on Sunday.

The victory earns the Dragons a week off while the Sea Eagles' season is now over.

Despite facing a vastly understrength Eagles outfit, the Dragons refused to take any risks for much of the match, four penalty goals helping set up a 14-0 lead.

Many thought St George Illawarra would blow their out-of-form and depleted opponents away from the outset, but the home side opted to build their advantage by two's.

It wasn't until the 65th minute that they let their hair down and Matt Cooper scored after Mark Gasnier found space and popped a nice ball for a 20-0 lead.

Cooper had a double just minutes later after Jamie Soward created something out of nothing on the last tackle when it appeared play had broken down.

Then Gasnier sent the smaller than expected Kogarah crowd of 15,574 delirious when he fended off Kieran Foran to dash 80 metres, announcing the NRL's so called 'chokers' are free from their noose.

The Sea Eagles were brave throughout but their frustrations boiled over when second rower Anthony Watmough was sin-binned after Cooper's second try, when the touch judge reported he'd put his knees into Ben Hornby in a tackle.

St George Illawarra dominated the first half but only had one try to show for it in the ninth minute.

A Jamie Soward grubber took a high bounce in the in-goal area which allowed Dragons captain Ben Hornby to out-leap Manly's Trent Hodkinson and Ben Farrar to touch-down just inside the dead-ball line.

By winning St George Illawarra have avoided a visit to their Canberra graveyard next week, and will now have a week's rest before taking on the winner of Canberra and Wests Tigers in Sydney in week three.

Week two of the finals sees Canberra take on Wests Tigers on Friday night in Canberra and the Roosters tackle Penrith on Saturday night at the Sydney Football Stadium.

- AAP