Golden afternoon for the Titans

The Gold Coast Titans have defeated the Canberra Raiders by 28-12 in front of a just under 9,000 fans at a hot and humid Cbus Super Stadium on the Gold Coast.

The start was mixed for the Titans with Greg Bird injuring his groin at the opening kick-off but it went upwards from that with two early tries for the Titans inside the first ten minutes.

Kalifa Faifai Loa opened the scoring for the home team when Kane Elgey spotted open space in behind the Raiders defence and KFL scored; The second four pointer belonged to Kane Elgey who found open space off a pass and after a juggle he scored next to the posts and somehow it was not converted by Dan Mortimer.

The Raiders then hit back through Sam Williams who had the Titans defence set up the welcome mat for him to stroll through the line.

The Titans then hit back through Ryan James who had too much size and strength for the Raiders defence and this time it was converted by Kane Elgey.

The Raiders went close several times with two tries being denied by the Video Referees before Jarrod Croker scored out wide after again slicing through some very poor defence meaning that the score was 14-12 at the Half Time break.

The second half was a very untidy affair with plenty of end to end action from both sides but the finishing was poor with the Raiders unable to crack the Titans defence and it was the home side who scored the points with Kalifa Faifai Loa scoring his second try of the match which was followed by errors and end to end play before 15 minutes later, Kane Elgey slotted a penalty goal to extend the lead.

Five minutes later the win was sealed with a converted try for Nene Macdonald and then a penalty goal from Elgey sealed the deal to send the score out to 28-12.

Next weekend the Titans are at home again taking on the St George Illawarra Dragons, whilst the Canberra Raiders return to the nation's capital to take on the Penrith Panthers who come off a 10 day break.

Match Details

Gold Coast Titans 28 Canberra Raiders 12
Venue: Cbus Super Stadium
Crowd: 8762
Halftime Score: Gold Coast Titans 14 Canberra Raiders 12

GOLD COAST TITANS (28)
Tries: Kalifa Faifai Loa (2), Kane Elgey, Ryan James, Nene Macdonald
Conversions: Daniel Mortimer (0/2), Kane Elgey (2/3)
Penalty Goals: Kane Elgey (2/2)

CANBERRA RAIDERS (12)
Tries: Sam Williams, Jarrod Croker
Conversions: Jarrod Croker (2/2)

LeagueUnlimited.com Players of the Match:

3 points - Kane Elgey
2 points - Kalifa Faifai Loa
1 point - Daniel Mortimer

LeagueUnlimited.com Live Commentary

Raiders are out on the field at Cbus Super Stadium

PLAY UNDERWAY - Raiders have the first use of the ball

1: UNFORCED ERROR CANBERRA RAIDERS
Shaun Fensom makes an unforced error.
Shaun Fensom loses the ball on tackle 4 and Titans have first use inside the Canberra half

3: UNFORCED ERROR GOLD COAST TITANS
James Roberts makes an unforced error.
James Roberts loses the ball on the last tackle

5: BJ Leilua puts a kick in but there is nobody close to it other than TJ Brett Suttor and the 20m restart goes to the Titans

8: TRY GOLD COAST TITANS
Scored by Kalifa Faifai Loa. Kick to come.
Elgey spots a bad read in defence and puts a kick in for Faifai Loa who scores

8: UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION GOLD COAST TITANS
Conversion attempt by Daniel Mortimer unsuccessful.
Daniel Mortimer's kick is well away from the posts

9: TRY GOLD COAST TITANS
Scored by Kane Elgey. Kick to come.
Kane Elgey set up the last try and gets this one himself, some great work from the Titans and he goes through... even with a juggle

10: UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION GOLD COAST TITANS
Conversion attempt by Daniel Mortimer unsuccessful.
Daniel Mortimer from close range has shanked the kick badly

14: UNFORCED ERROR CANBERRA RAIDERS
Josh Papalii makes an unforced error.
Josh Papalii loses the ball right on the Titans line and it relieves the pressure

15: UNFORCED ERROR GOLD COAST TITANS
Nate Myles makes an unforced error.
Nate Myles loses the ball and the Raiders go inside the 40

17: TRY CANBERRA RAIDERS
Scored by Sam Williams. Kick to come.
Titans defence sees Sam Williams coming and instead of closing in they say "please come through" and Sam Williams strolls in

18: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION CANBERRA RAIDERS
Conversion attempt by Jarrod Croker successful.
Jarrod Croker slots the conversion for the visitors and the gap closes back to 2

20: PENALTY RAIDERS: Titans penalised for being inside the 10 and Raiders go on attack

23: PENALTY TITANS: Raiders penalised for being inside the 10 and now the Titans are inside the Raiders half

25: UNFORCED ERROR CANBERRA RAIDERS
Edrick Lee makes an unforced error.
First play from the scrum Edrick Lee loses the ball and the Titans are attacking

27: TRY GOLD COAST TITANS
Scored by Ryan James. Kick to come.
Ryan James hits and spins in the tackle and beats Jarrad Kennedy and scores another easy try

28: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION GOLD COAST TITANS
Conversion attempt by Kane Elgey successful.
Kane Elgey has taken over the goal kicking and converts the try

29: UNFORCED ERROR GOLD COAST TITANS
Kane Elgey makes an unforced error.
Kane Elgey is pulled up for a forward pass

29: Kane Elgey ON REPORT for TRIPPING

31: UNFORCED ERROR GOLD COAST TITANS
Nene Macdonald makes an unforced error.
Raiders go close to scoring... it gets stripped then James Roberts throws an awful pass that is knocked on

31: Jarrad Kennedy ruled to have been held up then Paul Vaughan is ruled to have been held up in the next tackle

32: TRY CANBERRA RAIDERS
Scored by Jarrod Croker. Kick to come.
Jarrod Croker finds a massive hole and he slides through the poor defence and scores

34: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION CANBERRA RAIDERS
Conversion attempt by Jarrod Croker successful.
Jarrod Croker puts the conversion through the sticks to close the gap

35: NO TRY - Knock on is the ruling from the Video Referees

35: UNFORCED ERROR GOLD COAST TITANS
Nene Macdonald makes an unforced error.
Titans force a play and Nene Macdonald knocks the ball on

39: UNFORCED ERROR GOLD COAST TITANS
Kane Elgey makes an unforced error.
Kane Elgey loses the ball on the last and the Raiders have the ball in the concluding stages of the first half

40: Gavin Reynolds calls time on and the second half is underway as the sun appears on the Gold Coast

42: Sam Williams opening kick of the second half is too deep and the Titans aren't made to pay for the drop ball in the opening set

45: TRY GOLD COAST TITANS
Scored by Kalifa Faifai Loa. Kick to come.
KFL gets a double after a beautiful pass from Kane Elgey despites claims of a forward pass

45: UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION GOLD COAST TITANS
Conversion attempt by Kane Elgey unsuccessful.
Kane Elgey pushes the conversion

50: Titans chance their arm on the third tackle with Roberts kicking for his winger Dave Taylor who kicks again and its taken on the full ingoal

51: UNFORCED ERROR GOLD COAST TITANS
Dave Taylor makes an unforced error.
Dave Taylor loses the ball on tackle one after the penalty

52: Sam Williams puts in an odd kick then a 20m restart takes the Titans upfield

53: UNFORCED ERROR GOLD COAST TITANS
Nate Myles makes an unforced error.
Right on the Raiders line the Titans lose the ball again... thats now 3 potential tries blown for the Titans

54: PENALTY RAIDERS - Titans help the Raiders off the pressure with a penalty conceded taking the count now to 8-4 for the Raiders

57: UNFORCED ERROR GOLD COAST TITANS
Kane Elgey makes an unforced error.
End to end stuff for both sides but Kane Elgey loses the ball, another mistake on the Raiders line for the Titans

58: UNFORCED ERROR CANBERRA RAIDERS
Jarrod Croker makes an unforced error.
Jarrod Croker messes up the play the ball and the Titans go on the attack again

60: Matt White crosses the line.... and its called held up by Gavin Reynolds

62: Both sides still going end to end but making mistake once they get up the other end, Titans on the Raiders line

65: SUCCESSFUL PENALTY GOAL GOLD COAST TITANS
Penalty goal attempt by Kane Elgey successful.
Kane Elgey slots the penalty goal and open the margin back out to 8 points

66: 40/20 GOLD COAST TITANS
Kane Elgey kicks a 40/20.
Kane Elgey hits a beautiful 40/20 and the Titans are attacking the Raiders line

67: Both sides are finishing their sets atrociously with another poor kick on the last from the Raiders

68: UNFORCED ERROR GOLD COAST TITANS
Ryan James makes an unforced error.
Ryan James loses the ball on his own 30m line and the Raiders will go on the attack

69: UNFORCED ERROR CANBERRA RAIDERS
Josh Papalii makes an unforced error.
Josh Papalii loses the ball on the Titans 10m line and now the home side are attacking

71: TRY GOLD COAST TITANS
Scored by Nene Macdonald. Kick to come.
Nene Macdonald gets some open space after a tap on from Kane Elgey and the Titans extend the lead

73: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION GOLD COAST TITANS
Conversion attempt by Kane Elgey successful.
Elgey converts the try

74: SUCCESSFUL PENALTY GOAL GOLD COAST TITANS
Penalty goal attempt by Kane Elgey successful.
Kane Elgey slots another penalty goal to send the margin out to 16

77: Kane Elgey sends the ball into touch 10m out

78: UNFORCED ERROR CANBERRA RAIDERS
Jarrod Croker makes an unforced error.
Jarrod Croker can't handle the ball off the last tackle kick and the Titans will work it out from their own zone

79: Jack Wighton takes a great take from the high bomb but not much else has gone right for them today