The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs have come from behind to beat the Wentworthville Magpies, eliminating any slim chance they had of making the finals.
The Magpies started the game well, with Bevan French playing a huge role for his side with some impressive ball-playing on both sides of the park that saw him set up two tries.
It would be the Bulldogs day however, leaving it late to score 16 unanswered points in the final 15 minutes with halves pairing Fa’amanu Brown and Josh Cleeland working well off the back of their hard-working forward pack.
The Magpies were first on the board are a right-to-left shift was executed to perfection, highlighted by the cut-out pass by Dylan Brown into the chest of Gregory Leleisiuao who had plenty of work to do but manage to evade four defenders to score.
A similar play gave Wentworthville their next try as they attacked the same left-side channel of the field, but this time it would be Bevan French to provide the perfectly-executed ball to Leleisiuao, who scored his double in the corner to take them out to an 8-0 lead.
The Bulldogs hit back just before half-time with a much needed try thanks to a powerful bust from Asipeli Fine, who isolated Abbas Miski one-on-one and was able to fend him off to find open space and charge to the line.
French kept his stamp on the game by once again providing his team with points, this time throwing a nice cut-out pass to his other winger, Haze Dunster, who ran away to give the Magpies an eight point lead.
With 15 minutes to go, the Bulldogs hit their straps in a devastating way, running in three tries to not only take the lead, but secure the win with 16 unanswered points.
Morgan Harper ran an inside line off a Josh Cleeland pass and made a devastating run while leaving defenders behind, and it looked like he was going all the way for a remarkable solo try before he was pulled down by Rhys Davies, but Renouf To’omaga was supporting and he was able to pop the ball for the big front-rower to score under the posts.
Some evasive work from Fa’amanu Brown was able to fracture the defence enough when he gave Jayden Okunbor the ball, and the latter ran a brilliant, barnstorming line to crash over which gave the Bulldogs the lead for the first time.
Tom Carr was in the process of being held up as he crossed the line, but he somehow got his arms free and threw a miracle offload to Harper who only had to plant the ball down for a well deserved try, and secure the win for the Bulldogs.
