Dragons 19
Roosters 12
Knights 30
Bulldogs 6
St George Illawarra have ground the Sydney Roosters into the SCG dust with a victory to go four points clear at the top of the NRL ladder and affirm their favouritism for the premiership.
In a brutal physical assault in front of a crowd of 37,994, the Dragons outmuscled the home side, scoring three tries to two and handing coach Wayne Bennett a victory in his 600th game as a first grade coach.
The kings of the grind were content to run down the Roosters slowly, earning the ire of the crowd with decisions to take penalty shots at goal and leaving it until the 59th minute to finally hit the front with a 50m charge by a rampaging Ben Creagh.
Five-eighth Jamie Soward nailed a 68th-minute field goal to give the Dragons the breathing space to see off a Todd Carney try two minutes later which made the score 13-12.
Dragons hooker Dean Young sealed the deal with a 76th-minute try from dummy-half, proving grind beats flair after Roosters centre Shaun Kenny-Dowall had launched a counter-attack from his own end.
The loss ended a five-game winning streak from the Roosters and sent the Dragons clear of a chasing pack.
The Roosters took a 6-4 lead into the break after a bruising first half played at a frantic pace.
The home side lost centre Kane Linnett with a knee injury in just the eighth minute but that didn't stop them scoring first just seconds later.
The try was not without controversy as Anthony Minichiello appeared to bobble the ball as he put it down, video referee Bill Harrigan coming up with a benefit of the doubt decision.
The Dragons muscled up, though, and their physical dominance paid dividends when some Mark Gasnier magic - on a day a statue of his uncle Reg was unveiled in the SCG precinct - returned in the 32nd minute, the former test centre's lovely quick hands sending Jason Nightingale over.
They might have taken the lead but were denied twice by Harrigan, once when Creagh knocked forward a kick and then when Brett Morris' foot touched the sideline as he planted the ball down.
Newcastle secured their second NRL win inside a week after beating Canterbury. Following Monday's victory over Manly, the Knights moved within four points of the NRL top eight with four matches left to play and ended the Bulldogs' September hopes with a thrashing in Newcastle.
The Knights, who in mid July conceded 52 points to the Canberra Raiders, are now up to 10th on the ladder and face the eighth-placed Warriors in a crucial clash in Auckland next weekend.
Newcastle's victory was set up on the back of a three-try-to-nil first half, with skipper Kurt Gidley, fullback Shannon McDonnell and hooker Isaac De Gois all scoring tries to open up an 18-0 halftime lead.
Despite the desperate Dogs dominating field position early in the second half, two more tries inside the opening 20 minutes of the second term to Cooper Vuna and Adam MacDougall opened up an unassailable 30-0 margin before Ben Barba gained a late consolation for the visitors.
- AAP
