Wests Tigers Holden Cup side extended their undefeated streak with a 42-10 win over the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in their Round 10 clash on Sunday.
The 32-point victory makes it the fourth game in a row that Willie Peters' side have posted a 30-point-plus win, maintaining their second-placed position on the ladder after 10 weeks.
Wests Tigers got off to a great start in the ninth minute when Luke Sharpe received a nice cut out pass from Veiru Mapesone to step inside Bulldogs fullback Josh Bergamin to score next to the posts, with Mapesone converting to give his side an early 6-0 lead.
Both sides continued to throw the ball around for the remainder of the half and committed several errors in the process — much to the frustration of both Head Coaches.
Canterbury-Bankstown would eventually hit back int the 34th minute of the game when Kiko Manu offloaded a ball for Luis Strickland to finally put points on the board.
Bergamin was unable to convert from the sideline, leaving the score at 6-4 to Wests Tigers.
After a string of successive penalties, Bulldogs hooker Joseph Tramontana was sent to the sin bin just before the break and Wests Tigers went into the sheds leading 6-4 and knowing they would have an extra man for the first nine minutes of the second half.
It took just three minutes after half time for the home side to take advantage of that when Roman Ioelu was on the end of a brilliant cutout pass from Sharpe to go over in the corner.
The winger was over for his second just five minutes later in an almost identical play, with Wests Tigers enjoying a 14-point buffer after Mapesone converted both tries to lead 18-4.
Saturday arvo footy returns to Campbelltown this week when we take on the Knights!
From there, the home side went on to score a further four tries to run away with the game.
Taniela Paseka broke through the line in the 50th minute and offloaded for Ryan Papenhuyzen to sprint 80 metres and score his first try in the Holden Cup competition.
Eight minutes later, Junior Kiwi Esan Marsters was in for his first of the day, pouncing on a grubber kick from Mapesone to extend the lead 30-4 with 20 minutes remaining.
In the following set, Wests Tigers continued to cause havoc against the Bulldogs defence, with Jakob Giles finishing off a strong attacking move to cross the line out wide.
Mapesone converted from the sideline to keep his perfect record for the day in tact.
Marsters was involved in the side’s seventh try of the day, when he charged through a hole to find hooker Jacob Liddle — who had only just returned to the field — in support. The five-eighth converted to make it seven from seven and give his side a 42- lead after 70 minutes.
The Bulldogs would cross for a consolation try late in the game through Marcelo Montoya, who darted over in the corner to get one back for the visitors.
However, it was clear that the day belonged to the home side, who ran out convincing 42-10 winners in the end and made it six games in a row unbeaten in the Holden Cup competition.
Wests Tigers will look to make it seven games in a row without defeat when they take on the fifth-placed Newcastle Knights next Saturday, May 21 at Campbelltown Sports Stadium.
FULL TIME — Wests Tigers 42 (Ioelu 2, Sharpe, Papenhuyzen, Liddle, Giles, Marsters, tries; Mapesone 7/7 goals) defeated Bulldogs 10 (Strickland, Montoya tries; Bergamin 1/2 goals)
