Young Fijian fullback Jahream Bula’s tackle on winger Mikaele Ravalawa saw the Wests Tigers beat the Saint George Illawarra Dragons 18-16 and record their second consecutive win in Round 10 of NRL on Sunday.
Fiji Bati five eight Brandon Wakeham shed the first blood in the match via a penalty in the 6th minute giving the Tigers an early 3-nil lead before Ravalawa charged over the line in his return from a hamstring injury to get the Dragons on the board.
Four minutes later, Starford To’a got the opening try for the Tigers before rookie fullback Bula provided a tap-on pass to veteran winger David Nofoaluma to cross for his 101st career try.
Wakeham slotted both the conversions in the 23rd minute.
Jayden Sullivan ran for the Dragons second try and he converted his own to merge the gap, yet the Tigers led 14-10 at the break.
Tigers continued with their firepower play in the second spell and scored another try from Junior Tupou before Sullivan added his second one for the Dragons.
A try-saving tackle led by Jahream Bula – his third of the match – on Ravalawa in the 79th minute fended off a late Dragons win in a thrilling finale at Suncorp Stadium.
Bula was brilliant for Wests Tigers, coming up with three key defensive plays and looking a threat through the middle in just his third NRL game.
