Fiji Bati winger Mikaele Ravalawa scored a brace of tries as his Saint George Illawarra Dragons defeated the Dolphins 38-12 and bounced back to winning ways in Round 5 of the NRL on Saturday.
Newcomers Dolphins shed the first blood in the match through Jamayne Isaako’s converted try just 13 minutes past the clock.
Three minutes later, the Dragons responded harshly with the leveller from Jacob Liddle but Isaako landed a penalty goal to get the Dolphins back in the game.
A try from Blake Lawire put the Dragons ahead in the match for the first time and Lomax converted for a 12-8 lead at the break.
Two minutes into the second half the Dragons extended their lead with Lomax and Ben Hunt scoring back-to-back tries and Lomax slotted both the conversions.
Few minutes later, Hunt delivered a superb long ball for Ravalawa to steamroll defenders and score out wide as the home side put the result beyond doubt.
Dolphins prop Mark Nicholls was sin-binned with 13 minutes to play for a professional foul and the Dragons capitalised on their one-man advantage with Jack Bird feeding Ravalawa, his second of the night to make it 32-8.
With eight minutes to play, the Dolphins hit back with a spectacular long-range try featuring great work by Isaako and finished off by Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow.
The Dragons stayed determined and Tyrell Sloan exploded into a hole from 40 metres out and got the ball down and Lomax booted the conversion to seal the win.
