[Source: NRL]

The Dolphins overcame a heavy injury toll and spirited Wests Tigers outfit to maintain their place on the ladder with a 26-16 win.

It was a powerful showing from the Dolphins in the first half who enjoyed a 14-0 lead at the break with some impressive tries scored.

However, what would have pleased coach Wayne Bennett the most would have been the period mid-way in the half where the Phins held out multiple sets at their line against an attacking Tigers side looking for three wins in a row.

At halftime, both sides has 50 percent share of possession, but the Dolphins had made much better use of their chances and had an 82 percent completion rate, as opposed to 65 percent from the Tigers.

With new coach Benji Marshall coming up against his mentor Wayne Bennett, there was a huge divide in experience, but the Tigers had a plan to kick early to try to turn the Dolphins around and Aidan Sezer’s two 40/20 kicks had them under pressure.

In the second half, the play worked, with Alex Seyfarth able to get the ball down to score to keep them in the game with eight minutes left in the match, but it was too late, with the Dolphins doing the hard work early to earn the win.

After going into the break trailing 14-0, the Tigers started the second half well overall, with hometown boy Solomona Faataape – who last season was playing for the Brisbane Tigers – going over for his first try in the NRL after collecting a nice offload from Charlie Staines.

The Tigers were piling on the pressure and Faataape went back-to-back after chasing and collecting a Sezer grubber to ground the ball, despite the attention of fullback Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow.

The Dolphins were on the rocks, but back-to-back errors from the Tigers let them wriggle off the hook when Kodi Nikorima – who celebrated his 30th birthday earlier in the week – putting some distance between the two sides with a try.

The Dolphins then scored another try to a somewhat unexpected player. In his first appearance since Round 1, Bennett made a late change to switch Kenny Bromwich into the starting side and he delivered, following up on a probing dummyhalf run by Jeremy Marshall-King to sprint under to posts.

While it was a good win for the Dolphins at home, it could have come at a high cost, with Felise Kaufusi, Tom Flegler and Herbie Farnworth all unable to finish the game.

The Tigers also suffered their own injury concerns, with forwards John Bateman and Samuela Fainu suffering head knocks and unable to return, while debutant Latu Fainu suffered a hamstring strain.