The Dragons returned to the NRL winner's circle after a run of three straight defeats courtesy of an impressive victory over the Warriors in Hamilton on Friday night.
The golden-point loss to the Roosters on Anzac Day sparked a mini-collapse for Paul McGregor's men, who had topped the ladder in the early stages of the 2017. But despite the continued absence of the league's top points-scorer, Gareth Widdop, the Dragons ran in half a dozen tries to arrest their decline and return to the top four.
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Dragons down woeful Warriors
St. George bounced back from their three-game losing streak to beat the New Zealand Warriors.
Looking to bounce back after last weekend's horror loss to the Penrith Panthers, the Warriors' brightest moments came in the opening 10 minutes, but from there on in they were kept on the back foot, missing 57 tackles to the victors' 22.
The result could have been sealed inside the first half had the Dragons shown a little more ruthlessness, and it will be back to the drawing board for the Warriors as they look to right their teetering ship, and plug the holes in their leaky defence.
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The home side opened the scoring in the 13th minute at FMG Stadium in Waikato, when Kieran Foran sucked in several defenders and freed Ben Matulino, who marked his 200th match with his 17th try in the left-hand corner. But the game then took a turn for the worse for the hosts.
Winger Kalifa Faifai Loa got the Dragons on the board in the 20th minute, finishing an attacking move that began inside his own half, as a series of slick passes left the Warriors' defence in disarray and playing catch-up.
Centre Timoteo Lafai added the conversion, and then sparked their next attack, making a 40m run down the left touchline to put them in a good position, which enabled second-rower Joel Thompson to cross over several tackles later, after a check with the bunker.
Some clever footwork from Dragons halfback Josh McCrone saw him evade a Bodene Thompson tackle that would have ended the set, then turn towards the left edge, where he gave Lafai an easy run in to score.
The Warriors managed to hit back just before the break, when the Dragons failed to deal with a seemingly innocuous Shaun Johnson grubber on the right flank, and Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad was able to pounce in the corner.
The break gave them the perfect chance to regain their footing, and they threatened early down the right edge twice, only for a promising attack to be stopped by a silly forward pass from Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.
But their deficiencies in defence remained, and after a couple of scares, it was Hame Sele who made the Warriors pay, surging up the middle of the field, largely unencumbered, and creating enough chaos for Nene Macdonald to score in the right-hand corner.
That pushed the margin out to 12 with just under half an hour to play, and Faifai Loa put the game to bed on the hour mark, scoring down the left. Taane Milne added another to pad the margin, before Nicoll-Klokstad's consolation effort four minutes from time.
Originally published on The Sydney Morning Herald as St George Illawarra Dragons run in six tries to defeat woeful New Zealand Warriors.