NRL: Tigers too strong for Dragons

AAP

16 Mar, 2015 05:25 PM2 mins to read

The Tigers' Pat Richards, left, and James Tedesco celebrate during their team's win over the St George Illawarra Dragons. Photo / Getty Images

An early James Tedesco blitz helped the Wests Tigers to a 22-4 round two NRL win over St George Illawarra at Campbelltown Stadium on Monday night.

The Tigers raced to a 20-0 lead after 28 minutes courtesy of Tedesco's incredible speed and slick hands.

The young fullback threw the final pass for Kevin Naiqama's opening sixth minute touchdown after chiming into the backline, before crossing himself eight minutes later to open up an 8-0 lead.

Tedesco was again involved in Pat Richards' try in the 18th minute, before the winger crossed again nine minutes later.

That 20-0 lead was an indication of the Tigers' complete domination of the first half as the home side enjoyed 66 per cent of possession in front of 11,837 fans.

The Dragons were forced to make 198 tackles to the Tigers' 136 in the first half with representative prop Aaron Woods leading the way for Wests alongside Tedesco with 15 runs for 131m.

The visitors breathed some life into the contest when Dane Nielsen crossed out wide after a nice sweep play two minutes before halftime for a score of 20-4.

But the second stanza didn't produce much as the Dragons attack continued to stutter, as it did last week in their round one loss to Melbourne.

The Tigers meanwhile couldn't replicate their slick offense from early on.

Their sole points in the second half came from a Richards penalty goal in the 74th minute.

George Rose, Trent Merrin and Mike Cooper were the Dragons' best in another performance that doesn't bode well for the season ahead.

Tigers prop Keith Galloway was put on report late in the clash for unnecessary contact on Dragons interchange forward Jack De Belin.