Billy Smith scored two tries and was one of two players sin binned as the Roosters defied the odds and the form guide to stun the Broncos in Brisbane.
Billy Smith scored two tries and was one of two players sin binned as the Roosters defied the odds and the form guide to stun the Broncos in Brisbane.
It’s too little, too late but a wonderful late try for the Titans here, with offloads aplenty and long, weaving runs from halves Jayden Campbell and AJ Brimson, who scores in the final minutes. Campbell converts.
Dragons 38-16 Titans with one minute left
A short dropout from the Titans backfires and Jacob Liddle takes off down the right for the Dragons, gets inside the Gold Coast’s half and throws a forward pass to Tyrell Sloan who runs away to score his third. The touch judge couldn’t keep up with play so doesn’t spot the forward pass and the try is awarded.
BUT the bunker helpfully spots a knock-on and offside penalty from the mayhem when players went up for the kick-off, and the try is disallowed.
The Titans finish the next set with a Jayden Campbell bomb to the right wing, and rookie Gold Coast flyer Allan Fitzgibbon sails high to bring it down but loses it before the Titans can score. Play is called back anyway for a late shot on Campbell after the kick.
Dragons 38-10 Titans with five minutes left
It seemed inevitable the Dragons would score again now the Titans only have 12 on the field and so it’s proved, with standout rookie Dylan Egan capping a great game after being promoted to the starting side with a try on the left edge.
Dragons 38-10 Titans with six minutes left
It’s head knock crackdown time again, with the bunker spotting high contact in a Brock Gray tackle on Jack de Belin and Gray’s been sent to the sin bin. It’s adding insult to injury for the Titans, who weren’t really in this contest with 13 men anyway.
Dragons 34-10 Titans with 12 minutes left
The official teams are in for the second game of the night, with Victor Radley moving back to the bench for the Roosters and Mark Nawaqanitawase their 18th man.
Brisbane Broncos
1. Reece Walsh 2. Selwyn Cobbo 3. Kotoni Staggs 4. Gehamat Shibasaki 5. Jesse Arthars 6. Ben Hunt 7. Adam Reynolds 8. Patrick Carrigan 9. Cory Paix 10. Payne Haas 11. Jack Gosiewski 12. Jaiyden Hunt 13. Kobe Hetherington
Bench: 14. Billy Walters 15. Corey Jensen 16. Xavier Willison 17. Martin Taupau
Sydney Roosters
1. James Tedesco 2. Daniel Tupou 3. Billy Smith 4. Robert Toia 5. Dominic Young 6. Sandon Smith 7. Hugo Savala 8. Nat Butcher 9. Connor Watson 10. Naufahu Whyte 11. Angus Crichton 12. Siua Wong 15. Salesi Foketi
Bench: 13. Victor Radley 14. Zach Dockar-Clay 16. Blake Steep 17. Spencer Leniu
Incredible stuff from David Fifita here, with a short kick-off batted back by a Titans player into the hands of the giant back-rower who crashes through two, three, four defenders, then offloads to his right to set up a try for Phillip Sami out wide. It’s a consolation try but at least shows what Fifita can do – and it’ll be hard for Des Hasler to move him back to the bench again next week. He leads all forwards in this game for run metres with 165 so far.
Dragons 34-10 Titans with 16 minutes left
Now the Dragons are in again after a simple unforced error from the Gold Coast’s Allan Fitzgibbon near his own tryline, the hosts spreading it right for Tyrell Sloan to score his second of the night. Val Holmes’ radar is back on target for yet another sideline conversion.
Meanwhile two-try winger Christian Tuipulotu has left the field for the Dragons with a hamstring strain.
Dragons 34-4 Titans with 18 minutes left
Brian Kelly pounces on a AJ Brimson grubber but can’t ground it cleanly and the bunker disallows the try.
The Dragons march downfield and bench hooker Jacob Liddle makes a half break out of dummy half and offloads for Jack de Belin, but he can’t handle the pass and the Titans get away with one – only to throw the ball over the sideline a couple of tackles later.
There’s still plenty happening but a bit of the life seems to have been drained from this contest with the home side holding a 24-point lead as we close in on the final 20 minutes.
Dragons 28-4 Titans with 22 minutes left
Breaking news from Nine’s Danny Weidler on two of the NRL’s former stars-turned-boxers.
Hope Des Hasler has come up with a great team talk during the half-time break because his Titans are suddenly a long way behind in this game. They are a team capable of piling on quick points at least.
The Dragons have the earliest chance of the second half though – and they strike again! Kyle Flanagan is having a very good game and he’s involved in another try, a double cutout pass here finding Christian Tuipulotu unmarked on the wing and he scores his seventh try of the season. Holmes finally misses a conversion.
Dragons 28-4 Titans with 36 minutes left