Rabbitohs ‘lead’ NRL as Dragons tumble to Tigers

Samoa seal WCup spot

SYDNEY, July 15, (AFP): St George Illawarra Dragons relinquished top spot to the Rabbitohs in Australia’s National Rugby League on Sunday after a 20-16 home loss to the Wests Tigers.

The Dragons suffered a State of Origin hangover as newly re-signed hooker Robbie Farah spearheaded the Tigers to inflict St George’s fifth defeat of the season.

Wests led 20-6 before late tries by English international pivot Gareth Widdop and Matt Dufty pulled the Dragons to within four points at the finish.

The Dragons had all five of their State of Origin stars backing up after the mid-week representative game in Brisbane.

South Sydney are now the competition and with Cooper Cronk absent.

Sydney handed debuts to Paul Momirovski, Sean O’Sullivan and Poasa Faamausili, who all scored tries.

Matt Moylan came back to haunt his old club as the Cronulla Sharks survived a scare to beat Penrith 24-12 at Panthers Stadium.

The former Panthers skipper was greeted with boos but the stand-off brushed aside the inhospitable reception to score a try and lay on another in the Sharks fifth straight victory over Penrith.

New Zealand Warriors kept their top four hopes alive by demolishing a lethargic Brisbane Broncos 26-6 at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday.

A hat-trick of tries by winger Michael Oldfield helped keep the Canberra Raiders’ slim finals chances alive in a 38-12 win over North Queensland Cowboys in Canberra.

The victory puts the ninth-placed Raiders within two wins of the top eight.

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Samoa became the 18th country to qualify for the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan after a 42-28 play-off second-leg victory over Germany in Heidelberg on Saturday.

The win, coupled with a 66-15 firstleg triumph in Apia two weeks ago, gave the Pacific island state a 108-43 aggregate victory.

Full-back Ahsee Tuala bagged two of Samoa’s three late tries as the plucky Germans led 28-21 with 14 minutes to go before the visitors pulled away.

Tuala, the Northampton Saints fullback, hit the line at pace and converted his own try to tie the scores at 28-all on 69 minutes.

Then right wing Ed Fidow, who scored a hat-trick of tries in the first leg, went over for a try Tuala converted to make it 35-28 with five minutes remaining.

With the German defence tiring, Tuala then crossed in the right corner on 80 minutes to seal the win with his second converted try.

Jaguares’ lock Matias Alemanno is tackled by Sharks’ scrum half Louis Schreuder during the Super Rugby match between the Sharks and the

Jaguares at the Kings Park Stadium in Durban on July 14. (AFP)