Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles fought until the end but ultimately succumbed to Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs side 40-30 at Belmore Sports Ground today in the final round of the NSW Cup
With finals contention already out of reach, the Sea Eagles fought hard in what turned out to be a game of two halves.
An early onslaught of tries saw the home side run out to a 22-6 lead at the break. Four second half tries from Blacktown weren’t enough to win the match as the Bulldogs went on to score seven tries in total.
The Bulldogs stamped their authority on the match with three tries in the opening 20 minutes.
Winger Jonathan Sua opened the scoring in the first minute after captialising on a Blacktown error. Lock Lipoi Hopoi crashed over next to the posts in the 12th minute off the back of a short ball and Sua scored in the corner in the 18th minute after a quick shift to the edge for a 16-0 lead.
Blacktown lock Aaron Woods scored under the posts after a perfectly weighted grubber kick from hooker Gordon Chan Kum Tong bounced up for him, cutting the deficit to 18-6.
The Sea Eagles allowed a high kick to bounce and paid the price as the Bulldogs scored their fourth in the 29th minute through five-eighth Trentham Petersen. Hopoi chased hard and got on the end of the bouncing ball and ran towards the tryline before passing out wide to Petersen for a 22-6 scoreline.
Blacktown full-back Jaxson Paulo put his body on the line to prevent Bulldogs winger Jordi Mazzone from scoring in the 33rd minute, making a ball-and-all tackle to force the ball over the sideline and win possession back for his side.
Sea Eagles half-back Jamie Humphreys took on the defence by himself to score in the 43rd minute. Humphreys grubber kicked for himself inside the Bulldogs’ ten-metre line and beat his opponents to ground the ball and cut the deficit to 22-12.
Blacktown got themselves back within touching distance when Paulo crashed over to score in the 51st minute. The full-back scooped the ball out of dummy half and dragged a defender with him as he reached out to score for a 22-18 scoreline.
The Bulldogs took advantage of a mistake by the Sea Eagles and scored a runaway try two minutes later through Mazzone, pushing their lead back out to ten points at 28-18.
Canterbury continued to make Blacktown pay as Sua completed his hat-trick with a try down the left edge to take their lead to 34-18 with 20 minutes remaining.
The Sea Eagles proved to be their own worst enemy as the Bulldogs turned defence into attack in a matter of moments.
Blacktown surged downfield and looked to score until a wayward pass made its way to the hands of a Bulldogs player. Mazzone scooped up the loose ball and ran 80 metres downfield to score his second for a 40-18 scoreline with ten minutes to play.
The Sea Eagles scored two late tries in the last five minutes for a more respectable scoreline. Winger Watson Heleta used his strength to muscle his way over in the 75th minute. Centre Brad Parker converted to take the score to 40-24.
Some quick hands and attacking the short side saw winger Eparama Navale send Parker over for a try two minutes later for a final scoreline of 40-30.
Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles finished their season in ninth spot on 24 points through 10 wins and 14 losses from 24 games played.
Bulldogs 40 (Tries: Sua 3, Mazzone 2, Hopoi, Petersen. Conversions: Clark 6/7) d. Sea Eagles 30 (Tries: Woods, Humphreys, Paulo, Heleta, Parker. Conversions: Paulo 4/4, Parker 1/1)
