Penrith punish rusty Roosters
10 hours ago | Aidan Edgecomb
The headlines screamed the return of the Hayne Plane but it meant nothing with the New Zealand Warriors keeping a strong record over the Titans going with a 24-14 win infront of 25,000 fans at Cbus Stadium.
All the hype of the week was surrounding the inclusion of Jarryd Hayne but that didn't faze the Warriors with a strong performance in the opening 40 minutes despite a scare early on when the bunker denied Nene McDonald a try in the opening minutes. The Warriors opened the scoring through David Fusitua in just the seventh minute when the finisher put on one of his usual specials finishing in the corner spectacularly to get the first four pointer.
The two sides went try for try from that point with Ryan James scoring the Titans first barging into to score from close range before Bodene Thompson got the advantage of insufficient evidence when the bunker couldn't see any evidence to overturn a live decision of try from the onfield referee Jared Maxwell. Konrad Hurrell got the final try of the opening 40 when he scored in the corner and levelled the score up at 10 all.
The second half attacking focus from the Titans went through Hayne and he had a big impact but it wasn't going to be enough with the Warriors crossing early in the second half with Simon Mannering scoring to give the Warriors the lead back.
The Hayne Plane was flying but his Titans teammates couldn't get up there with him with two intercepts being thrown both sending the Warriors upfield and setting up Solomone Kata for his double, the first of which came off the back of David Fusitua's intercept and run a tackle later. The second of the Kata double came when he took his own intercept and then put on the fend of the season on Anthony Don who got sent flying when he chased down Kata and the Warriors winger scored in the corner.
The Titans replied in the dying minutes when Jarryd Hayne put a kick through for Anthony Don who showed excellent soccer skills to trap and then control the ball for a late chance but it wasn't to be for the Titans who fell to a loss.
Next weekend the Warriors will look to keep their top form going against the hapless South Sydney Rabbitohs whilst the Gold Coast Titans will be keen to bounce back with a clash against the Wests Tigers next Saturday at Campbelltown.
-
Venue:
Crowd:
Halftime Score: