Dragons get the points over tackling Titans

v BYE

It took some Dugan magic, some Widdop wizardry and the return of Faifai Loa to help the St. George-Illawarra Dragons register their first points and win in three games as they downed the Gold Coast Titans 19-14 today at Robina.

The Dragons, having not scored for 160 minutes of football, headed to the Gold Coast in Saturday afternoon football to try and turn their season around. The Titans, on a two match losing streak themselves were hoping to keep their impressive home ground record intact.

Following an exchange of penalties in the opening sets, the Dragons took their first real opportunity with two hands as Gareth Widdop took on the Titans line to score a great captain's try to break the drought. 

From the ensuing kick-off, Josh McCrone dropped the ball cold, putting his team under immediate pressure and repeat sets on the line lead to the Titans balancing the ledger with Agnatius Paasi crawling through the defence to dive over in the 13th minute.

After a few settling exchanges, the Titans Ashley Taylor made the mistake of kicking too far into the in-goal and Josh Dugan ran it back to the 20 metre line, only to tap and run a further 25 metres down the field on the zero tackle. Another penalty from the Titans didn't help their cause and the returning Kalifa Faifai Loa pounced on a well-judged grubber from McCrone to put the Dragons ahead 12-6 after 20 minutes.

Gareth Widdop managed to land the second conversion from the sideline, but when presented with an almost directly in front penalty eight minutes later, he was waved away. The Dragons got the ball back from the kick-off however and two minutes later, a cheeky kick from Widdop deflected off the huge black padding on the posts and into Jack De Belin hands for the Dragons to score their third try of the afternoon and taking am 18-6 lead to the sheds.

The first twenty minutes of the second half were an arm wrestle, with neither team making inroads and very few infringements.  Tyrone Roberts was directing the last tackle options for the Titans with repeated cross-field kicks to the right and left corners, but each time, the Dragons were equal to the task.

The bunker was called into the match in the 54th minute for a Widdop grubber to Joel Thompson, but it was an easy ‘no try' decision. Both teams seemed to be lacking the killer instinct in attack with Benji Marshall and Greg Bird being missed by each team respectively.

The Gold Coast Titans finally put themselves back into the match thanks for a spearing run from Anthony Don. His 30 metre break then set up Tyrone Roberts who ran over 40 metres to score a try under the posts. The gap was back to a converted try and guaranteed an exciting finish.

The Dragons managed to step it up in defence as the Titans, still struggling to get through on their edges, saw David Mead denied over and over again. Gareth Widdop, meanwhile, potted a field goal up the other end to give the Dragons a seven point buffer with just three and a half minutes to go.

The drama wasn't complete though as the Titans attacked with time fading away and after a scramble for the ball, Ashley Taylor was cleaned up by Widdop. There was concern from the Titans over his condition as the medicab was called out, but fortunately he walked from the field and the team decided to take the two points on offer for the penalty.

The Titans couldn't score with their last roll of the dice and the Dragons held on to not only score their first win and points in three games, but claw back up to equal eight on the ladder.

For the Titans, Ryan James had a monster game with 60 tackles and Jack De Belin almost matching him on 53 tackles, but Josh Dugan was everywhere, taking bombs, making metres and crucial tackles. The return of Tyrone Roberts was a good one for the Titans with a controlled kicking game, whilst the Dragons would be happy to see Kalifa Faifai Loa fit, smiling and scoring a try.

The Dragons will take on the Sydney Roosters in Round 8 in the traditional ANZAC Day clash on Monday week, whilst the Titans will travel to ANZ Stadium to take on Canterbury next Saturday.