CANTERBURY BULLDOGS 16 NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS 24
CALLUM WALKER, Accor Stadium, Sydney, Saturday
DOM YOUNG grabbed a brilliant hat-trick as Newcastle shocked Canterbury on their own turf.
The flying winger crossed on seven minutes to hand the Knights a 4-0 lead, before their forward Dylan Lucas was sinbinned for inexplicably stopping a quick restart.
Canterbury failed to take advantage of the extra man and the Knights struck again with two tries late on in the first half.
Tyson Frizell barrelled over just after the half-hour mark before Lucas atoned for his earlier error to cross on the hooter, with both efforts converted by Sandon Smith.
From 16-0 down, the Bulldogs had to find inspiration from somewhere – and they did through halfback Matt Burton.
A quick-fire double – the second of which came off the back of a superb Jacob Kiraz offload – brought the hosts back to within four points at 16-12 as Stephen Crichton kicked both goals.
But the Knights weren’t about to let go of their ascendancy, and Young took a Jermaine McEwen pass to finish in the corner on the hour.
In the thick of the action, the England international picked off a Connor Tracey pass to sprint home from 70 metres and make sure of victory ten minutes from time.
The Bulldogs did manage to close the deficit to eight through a Kiraz effort, but Newcastle held out.
BULLDOGS: 1 Connor Tracey, 2 Jacob Kiraz, 3 Enari Tuala, 4 Stephen Crichton, 5 Marcelo Montoya, 6 Matt Burton, 7 Lachlan Galvin, 8 Max King, 9 Bailey Hayward, 16 Lipoi Hopoi, 11 Viliame Kikau, 12 Jacob Preston, 13 Jaeman Salmon. Subs: 10 Sitili Tupouniua, 14 Kurt Mann, 15 Josh Curran, 17 Sean O’Sullivan, 19 Jonathan Sua (not used), 20 Fletcher Baker (not used)
Tries: Burton (49, 55), Kiraz (73); Goals: Crichton 2/3
KNIGHTS: 1 Fletcher Hunt, 2 Dom Young, 3 Dane Gagai, 4 Bradman Best, 5 Greg Marzhew, 6 Fletcher Sharpe, 7 Sandon Smith, 8 Jacob Saifiti, 9 Phoenix Crossland, 15 Pasami Saulo, 11 Dylan Lucas, 12 Jermaine McEwen, 13 Mat Croker. Subs: 10 Tyson Frizell, 14 Thomas Cant, 16 Cody Hopwood, 18 Tyson Gamble (not used), 19 Harrison Graham, 22 Wilson De Courcey (not used)
Tries: Young (7, 61, 70), Frizell (34), Lucas (40); Goals: Smith 2/5; Sin bin: Lucas (9)
SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-4, 0-10, 0-16; 6-16, 12-16, 12-20, 12-24, 16-24
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Bulldogs: Matt Burton; Knights: Dom Young
Penalty count: 5-3; Half-time: 0-16; Referee: Peter Gough; Attendance: 20,572