Western Rams go down in Andrew Johns Cup openers against Illawarra South Coast Dragons

To make matters worse, the Rams lost five-eighth Cooper Black to concussion early in the first half, as well as forward Regan Stait to a right knee injury late in the 34-14 loss to the Illawarra South Coast Dragons.

Western coach Tony Woolnough said it was disappointing.

"We started perfect and were on the front foot when we scored first. Then just error after error, it all just piled up," he said.

"We really didn't have the ball at all. Our completion count was low and our error count was high. You just can't win a footy game without the ball.

"We did what we had to do and led on the scoreboard and it all just went away from what we trained for. Things just went downhill."

Travelling to Shellharbour, the visitors got off to a great start when fullback Tully Howell barged over one defender before splitting the gap and scoring in the corner. Orange CYMS winger Harry Wald then converted from the sideline to make it 6-0.

It was one-way traffic for nearly all of the first half though, as the Dragons ran in three straight tries, although missed conversions on each kept the Rams in the game.

Then with five minutes left in the half, Wald pounced on a wayward Dragons pass and flew 60 metres down the field to score untouched.

The Dragons were able to open up the lead to eight just before the half after the Rams made an error receiving the ensuing kick off. A Lewis Sargent-Wilson try and conversion saw the home side go into the half up 18-10.

Coming out of the break, it only got worse for the Rams,

A 40-20 by the Dragon ten minutes into the half flipped field position and proved costly as the home side ran in another try. The Rams were able to get the ball back after the kick off, but a mistake by Regan Stait off the first play gifted the ball back to the Dragons.

After some back and forth, yet another mistake - this time by number Bailey Kennedy on the first tackle handed Dragons great field position. Once again the error proved costly as the Dragons ran over on the left hand side to open the lead up to push the lead to 28-10.

With ten minutes to go, Stait had to be taken off the field with a right knee injury.

Molong's Bailey Peschka made a good run from five metres out to score a consolation try at the end, as the final score saw the Rams go down 34-14.

Speaking on the injuries, Woolnough said it was "too early to tell" how bad Black's concussion was, but said the loss of "one of our best players" would be huge.

He also confirmed that Stait would be getting scans on his right knee, but that he was likely going to be out for several weeks.

Rams: Tries - Tully Howell, Harry Wald, Bailey Peschka; Coversions - Wald 1/3.

Dragons: Tries - Drew Langdon, Todd Thompson, Henry Parrish, Lewis Sargent-Wilson, Lachlan Greatz, Harry Wililo, Aaymon Fitzgibbon; Conversions - Jackson Smith 2/5, Lewis Sargent-Wilson 1/2.

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