DRAGONS POWER PAST RAIDERS
Palmo goes down as Nightcliff show character to pull through
NIGHTCLIFF upset Palmerston 22-14 last night to advance into the NRL NT grand final, knocking the minor premiers out in straight sets for the second consecutive year.
In a scrappy game riddled with errors, the Dragons started strongly and never relinquished their lead, despite some nervous moments late.
It wasn’t until Peter Nibbs — who featured prominently out of dummy-half — touched down with 60 seconds remaining, that the result was sealed.
Co-captain Ed Murphy said Nightcliff showed a lot of character to pull through.
“We made it hard on ourselves, there was a lot of dropped ball and stupid little penalties which carted (Palmerston) up the field,” Murphy said.
“But the boys dug deep. We talked about it before the game, hanging in there for each other, and we were able to come away with it.”
Murphy, Whitmer Tuputala and David Paull were strong in the middle for Nightcliff, but Allan Foster stood out.
The big man — featuring in his second last game before retirement — played the role of a wrecking ball to score a crucial try with 30 minutes left to make the score 16-4.
The Dragons scored the opening two tries; the first came through winger Jarrett Sherman, who was put away by David Tabuai on the right edge, the second to Josh Phillips on the left.
And Murphy said it was those two four-pointers which proved the most crucial.
“We knew if we got on top of them early, then that would get in their head,” Murphy said.
“In the back of their minds was the straight sets exit of last year, so we knew if we got on top, it would be a hard time for them.”
Palmerston came back to make the score 16-14 with 20 minutes to go, thanks to tries from Will Smith and Adam Hall.
But ultimately, it proved too little for the team which went through the regular season undefeated.