NEWCASTLE Knights slumped to a second straight defeat and lost centre Tautau Moga to a serious leg injury in a forgettable trip to Wollongong on Sunday.
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The Knights fell 30-12 to St George Illawarra with the Dragons maintaining their unbeaten start to the season with an emphatic win to secure the Alex McKinnon Cup.
While the Dragons were superior in most facets and dominated the forward battle, the Knights gave themselves no chance of an upset win because of an horrendous error count which directly contributed to a number of Dragons tries.
The big loss was soured even further by the injury to Moga.
He was assisted from the field after scoring the opening try of the match and did not return.
Moga's four pointer after just four minutes was the perfect start for the Knights but the Dragons still led 20-12 at the halftime break despite running into the breeze in the opening 40 minutes.
The Knights opted to go wide early and caught the Dragons napping with fullback Kalyn Ponga slicing through before finding Moga for the try.
His absence forced coach Nathan Brown to bring on utility Jamie Buhrer into the centres but as the errors mounted, the home side gained the ascendancy.
It was 6-all after 13 minutes when Tariq Sims isolated Brock Lamb in defence close to the line and he powered over the Knights’ five-eighth to score.
It was 12-6 just five minutes later when a Knights’ error gave the home side the ball in good field position with centre Tim Lafai beating Sione Mata'utia before putting his winger Nene MacDonald over.
Then it was Mitch Barnett's turn to cough up possession in a crunching tackle just 15 metres out from his own line.
Again, the Dragons made the Knights pay with centre Euan Aitken taking advantage of the Knights stretched left edge defence to cross for his side's third try and an 18-6 lead after Gareth Widdop again added the extras.
The Knights needed something special to stem the tide and get back in the game and it was provided by skipper Mitchell Pearce 11 minutes from the break
Attacking the Dragons line, the defence swarmed on the halfback with Pearce cleverly finding Chris Heighington on his inside in a huge hole to cross.
Widdop kicked a penalty goal four minutes from the break for the eight point advantage.
The error count continued to mount for the Knights early in the second half with Aidan Guerra and Lamb both guilty of dropped balls.
Lamb's mistake proved costly again with big prop Leeson Ah Mau taking four defenders with him in a surging run to the line for the Dragons' fourth try and a 26-12 lead 53 minutes in.
It was all over for the visitors just five minutes later when Ben Hunt went the short side and grubbered for MacDonald to ground the ball for his second try that blew out the lead to 30-12.
Meanwhile, the Knights suffered their third loss in four matches in the NSW Cup competition after falling to the Dragons 30-10 at WIN Stadium.
But Newcastle kept their unbeaten record intact in the Jersey Flegg Under 20's on Saturday with Tex Hoy scoring a hattrict in the Knights 32-12 win over the Dragons in Gerringong.
In the other junior grades, Jock Madden contributed 20 points with two tries and six goals in the Knights' 44-12 win over Canberra in SG Ball Under 18's while the club's Harold Matthews Cup Under 16's side accounted for the Raiders 28-20
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