The Canterbury Bulldogs made it two wins in a row by convincingly upsetting Mounties 35-20 – who have consequently lost top spot on the VB NSW Cup ladder.
Tyrone Phillips scored a hatrick for the Bulldogs, whilst Dane Chisholm was instrumental at halfback as he scored a try, set up two and kicked a last minute field goal.
The Bulldogs will take plenty of confidence out of this win, as they were smashed by the Mounties 58-18 just three weeks ago.
The game began evenly poised, as both teams had near chances to score in the opening four minutes.
Chisholm opened the Bulldogs account in the 11th minute after he received an incredible offload by Adam Elliot and planted the ball down under the posts.
Danny Fualalo scored a powerful try for the Bulldogs just five minutes later when he spun out of a defender after hanging onto a pass, and then shrugged off various Mounties players to score adjacent to the uprights.
Phillips and Chisholm then combined for an amazing try immediately off the kickoff set. Chisholm got a great offload away, received the ball back and kicked a perfect grubber for Phillips to chase and plant the ball down in the right corner.
The competition leaders were down 16-0 after 20 minutes and needed to score next as the Bulldogs had completely dominated every part of the game.
Mounties debutant Kurt Robinson responded when he dribbled a grubber in under the posts that was pounced on by Rhys Kennedy to get them onto the board for the first time.
The Bulldogs stretched their lead out to 22-6 when they scored an almost mirror version of Phillips’ first try. Chisholm put a long kick into the right corner and Phillips won the race again to re-gather and score a wonderful try.
Mounties then scored a much needed four pointer on the stroke of half time when winger Gus Aiga was on the end of a string of passes and offloads to make the score 22-10.
Phillips completed his hatrick just four minutes into the second half after David Minute threw him a magic offload off the back of a scrum play.
Mounties then hit back almost immediately when Mitch Cornish stepped through the defence then turned it inside to Jack Ahearn who put the ball down next to the posts.
Phillips looked like he had his fourth try of the afternoon just 58 minutes into the contest but the pass thrown to him was ruled forward.
The Bulldogs continued their exciting attacking brand of football in the 63rd minute when Jaline Graham danced through the defence and made a linebreak. He then gave it off to Shaun Lane who was lingering in support to extend their lead to 34-16.
Mounties scored a try through Mitch Cronin with four minutes remaining to give them a small glimmer of hope but it was short lived as Chisholm responded with a field goal to complete an excellent individual performance.
The final score was 35-20 to the Bulldogs who were in control for the entire game and never looked like losing.
Canterbury Bulldogs 35 (T Phillips 3, D Chisholm, D Fualalo, S Lane tries; L Dodd 4, H Ese'ese goals; Chisholm field goal) def. Mounties 20 (R Kennedy, J Ahearn, G Aiga, M Cronin tries; M Cornish 2 goals)
