Kalyn Ponga’s face said it all after the Knights produced a great escape to avoid an embarrassing NRL loss to the Dragons on Friday night. Newcastle rested Ponga and Dylan Lucas after State of Origin 2 on Wednesday night, but were still expected to blitz the last-placed Dragons.
The script was going to plan when Fletcher Sharpe raced in two quick tries to give the Knights a 12-0 lead after just eight minutes. Ponga, who was sitting behind coach Justin Holbrook in the box, was looking happy and comfortable after the two early tries, laughing with other members of staff around him.
Kalyn Ponga looked very relieved after the Knights held on to beat the Dragons. Image: Getty/Channel 9
But Ponga got increasingly more nervy as the game progressed, and the Dragons fought back to level the score at 12-12. St George Illawarra ended up scoring four tries to Newcastle’s three, and had the chance to snatch victory with a minute remaining.
But Kyle Flanagan couldn’t quite hold onto a loose ball and the Knights held on to win 22-20. In the box, Ponga’s reaction said it all as the Queensland fullback shook his head and couldn’t help but laugh. At one point he was seen covering his face as the superstar rode a rollercoaster of emotions throughout the 80 minutes.
Kalyn Ponga was looking comfortable early (L), but very nervy late in the game (R). Image: Channel 9
Newcastle just happy to get win over Dragons
Holbrook also appeared to realise his side got out of jail. “Just obviously happy to win,” Holbrook said in his post-match press conference. “Yeah, it started really well at 12-0 and credit the Dragons. I thought we probably dropped a gear and they lifted and the last month they’ve played really well and pushed us all the way to the end. But yeah, look, happy to get the win.”
The Knights coach summed up the situation facing all clubs with Origin representatives. “It’s a tricky time the Origin time,” he added. “We have two players at 48 hours (after Origin 2) so we don’t back them up, and they (Dragons) don’t have Origin players in, so that’s fine but we (had) a few disrupted players but good signs.
“We had Thomas Cant playing 80 minutes, Francis (Manuleleua) playing massive minutes, Cody Hopwood playing big minutes. They all haven’t been playing much NRL this year, so there was plenty of good signs for us.”