The NYC Newcastle Knights drew 28-all with the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs at Belmore Sports Ground on Sunday afternoon.
It was an impressive start for the Knights with 16 unanswered points in the first half but the home side staged a comeback in the second stanza, as both sides wrestled for the lead.
The Knights lost halves Kurtis Dark in the first half and Jack Johns just after half time, after they both failed HIA.
Early on, the Knights struggled to get through a solid Bulldogs pack but Sam McIntyre broke through in the 16th minute to score the first points of the day to lead 4-0.
Newcastle saved a try five minutes later, held up over the line, before McIntyre got his second, rolling through defence to crash over for the try in the 26th minute. Jack Johns was successful with the conversion as the Knights stretched their lead to 10-0.
Two minutes before the first break, Matt Cooper got a lucky bounce to side step his way to the line. The red and blue led 16-0 at halftime.
In the second half, the Knights were playing with twelve following a sin bin which allowed the Bulldogs’ Adam Keighran to charge over in the 45th minute. The centre followed with the kick to trail the Knights 16-6.
In the 50th minute, a behind the back pass landed in the hands of Bulldogs’ Tui Katoa who dived over in the right corner before another for the home side, via Dalton Smith in the 58th minute to level the scores 16-all.
In a wave of momentum, the Bulldogs got another via Kiko Manu to send them into the lead 22-16 but it was short lived as Mitch Andrews scored a try in the left corner in the 68th minute, to again level the score at 22-all.
Minutes later the Bulldogs were back in-front as Giordan Patea crossed over for the try but again the Knights replied with a try via Hayden Loughrey in the final minutes. Gudgeon nailed the conversion to record the draw 28-all.
SUMMARY
Newcastle Knights 28 (T: McIntyre 2, Cooper, Andrews, Loughrey, G: Gudgeon 2/3, Johns 2/2)
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 28 (T: Keighran, Katoa, Smith, Manu, Patea, G: Keighran 4/5)
TEAMS
Knights
1. Matt Cooper, 2. Mitch Andrews, 3. Kyle Smith, 4. Heath Gibbs, 5. Kainoa Gudgeon, 6. Kurtis Dark, 11. Jack Johns, 8. Cameron King, 9. Nash Birch, 10. Matt Croker, 15. Henry Penn, 12. Sam McIntyre, 13. Zac Hosking (c). Bench: 7. Hayden Loughrey, 16. Brodie Jones, 17. Jayden Butterfield. 18. Will Finau.
Bulldogs
1. Corey Matthews, 2. Kiko Manu, 3. Adam Keighran, 14. Dalton Smith, 23. Alvin Maungaati, 6. Michael Doolan, 21. Tui Katoa, 8. Cameron Torpy, 9. Joseph Tramontana, 10. Giordan Patea, 11. Hayden Ashcroft (c), 12. Luis Strickland, 13. Zac Cardassilaris. Bench: 15. James Clark, 16. Spike Te’io, 17. Elie El-Zakhem, 19. Kayne Kalache.
