Broncos ward off spirited Titans

v BYE

Brisbane have collected local bragging rights once again with a tough 24-16 win over the Gold Coast Titans in front of 21,080 at CBUS Super Stadium. 

After playing a game of the season candidate against their grand final conquerers, North Queensland - the Broncos traveled down the highway to face the Gold Coast Titans with former Titan James Roberts coming off his best game of the season welcomed back heartily. 

They held off a fast-finishing Titans team, thanks to their early onslaught highlighted by the blistering play from James Roberts who had a solid match on his return to Robina. 

The centre found himself in the action three minutes in after some smart work from McCullough, Roberts found some space, fended and scored the first try. Parker converted and it was a bright start for the visitors. 

They doubled their lead in the 24th minute after the game settled down when the two halves combined with Anthony Milford opened up room for Ben Hunt to slice through and make it a double digit lead. 

Gold Coast were no strangers to a comeback though, after their effort in the nation's capital last weekend. Former Bronco Holden Cup prospect Ash Taylor pushed through the perfect grubber for David Mead to latch onto which reduced the deficit to six. 

Brisbane continued to keep their younger brother at arm's length with Darius Boyd floated across field, to deliver a perfect pass to Jordan Kahu to touchdown three minutes after the game restarted. 

The gap widened in the 57th minute when interchange half Kodi Nikorima arrowed across the field before a burst of speed to make it three converted tries. It looked a long night incoming for a Titans team, high on effort but lacked some polish at the end. 

As the clock ticked into the hour mark, Gold Coast found an unlikely saviour when Zeb Taia reacted first on a loose pass to slide over. The forward returning from a stint in France, had double delight in the 67th minute when he crossed again to make it 22-16 with 12 minutes to play. 

Brisbane held their nerve though, after a failed kick-off and errors from the Titans gifted them possession and a penalty late on. Jordan Kahu kicked straight to make it back-to-back wins for last year's runners up. 

Next week Brisbane head back up the M1 to host St George Illawarra on Thursday night while the Titans are away to the Sharks in Sydney.