A devastating first-half performance and a debut try for Matt Dufty saw St George Illawarra Dragons thrash Manly Sea Eagles 52-22 in NRL on Sunday.
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Manly were held scoreless in the opening period as St George went in at the break 30-0 ahead thanks to tries from Jason Nightingale, Timoteo Lafai, Gareth Widdop, Euan Aitken and Jacob Host.
Widdop set up two scores for team-mates, converted all five tries and produced the pick of the bunch, intercepting a pass from an out-of-sorts Daly Cherry-Evans to run almost the length of the field and touch down at WIN Stadium.
The Sea Eagles took flight after the break, Dylan Walker, Darcy Lussick, Tom Trbojevic and Akuila Uate hitting back to close the margin to 30-22.
But Dufty, who was replacing the injured Josh Dugan at full-back, then came to the fore in his first senior appearance, helping to create settling tries for Paul Vaughan and Nightingale, before Aitken crossed again.
Impressive newcomer Dufty deservedly had the last word, completing the scoring in the 79th minute as St George in eighth spot closed to within two points of sixth-placed Manly.
On debut! Makes it a half century for the @NRL_Dragons.#NRLDragonsManly #NRL pic.twitter.com/E1zx7U3Hsd
— NRL (@NRL) July 23, 2017