Knights smash Woeful Titans

|

The Newcastle Knights have scored a strong 46-16 win over the Gold Coast Titans in wet and muddy conditions in front of 9,208 fans.

The Gold Coast Titans will wish that time travel was a possibility a match where anything that could have gone wrong did gone wrong for them.

In just the fourth minute their fortunes were set to be bad with star centre Jamal Idris suffering what looked to be a bad ankle/knee injury. The injury seemed to set the path for the Titans with the Knights looking to expose the weakened left side of the Titans and it worked with Tyrone Roberts taking advantage of the sliding Titans defence to score after just 10 minutes.

The Titans day managed to get worse just three minutes later with Darius Boyd awarded a Penalty try after the Video Referees agreed with the on field thoughts of Referee Jason Robinson.

As the match continued the Knights were clinical with their attack and it took them another three minutes to score this time it was James McManus who got the advantage of the very poor defence from the Titans.

The game took another interesting twist in the 22nd minute when James McManus slid over for his second try which was referred to the Video Referees who awarded the Knights an eight point try, after Albert Kelly slid through the in goal and made contact with James McManus. Tyrone Roberts couldn’t put the conversion from the sideline over but did get the Penalty goal to get six points.

As the clocked ticked higher, so did the Knights scoreline and after just 25 minutes the Knights had managed to establish a 30-0 lead after Joseph Leilua scored in the corner. When it looked like the scoreboard was going to get ahead of the Knights they managed to score again down the left side this time through James McManus who managed to get a first half hat trick to go 36-0 up.

Thankfully for the Titans, the 36-0 score line was where it finished the first half.

The second half didn’t start any better with a drop ball in the opening set gifting the Knights their seventh try of the match which gave James McManus his fourth of the match. Following this try the match became more of an armwrestle with the muddy conditions starting to take their toll on the players. However the Knights managed to score once again pushing the score out to 46-0.

Surprisingly with almost 20 minutes remaining that was to be the last points the Knights scored for the day. Over the last 12 minutes it was the Titans who managed to put a string of tries with their first being a 100m effort from Kevin Gordon, followed up by tries to Greg Bird and David Mead to add respectability to the scoreline with it ending up at 46-16.

Next week both sides will be doing some travelling, with the Titans looking to bounce back from their defeat today when they host the Penrith Panthers at TIO Stadium in Darwin, while the Newcastle Knights will also be travelling North where they play the Canterbury Bulldogs at Virgin Australia Stadium in Mackay.


Match Details
Newcastle Knights 46 Gold Coast Titans 16
Venue: Newcastle International Sports Centre
Crowd: 9208
Halftime Score: Newcastle Knights 36-0

LeagueUnlimited.com Players of the Match:
3 points - James McManus
2 points - Jarrod Mullen
1 point - Greg Bird

NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS (46)
Tries: Tyrone Roberts, Darius Boyd, James McManus (4), Joseph Leilua, Jarrod Mullen
Field Goals:
Conversions: Tyrone Roberts (6/8)
Penalty Goals: Tyrone Roberts (1/1)

GOLD COAST TITANS (16)
Tries: Kevin Gordon, Greg Bird, David Mead
Field Goals:
Conversions: Aidan Sezer (2/3)
Penalty Goals:

LeagueUnlimited.com Live Commentary

Knights: 1. Darius Boyd 2. James McManus 3. Dane Gagai 4. Joey Leilua 5. Aku Uate 6. Jarrod Mullen (c) 7. Tyrone Roberts 8. Kade Snowden 9. Danny Buderus 10. Willie Mason 11. Robbie Rochow 12. Beau Scott 13. Jeremy Smith
Interchange: 14. Craig Gower 15. Chris Houston 16. Zane Tetevano 17. Neville Costigan

Titans: 1. William Zillman 2. Kevin Gordon 3. David Mead 4. Jamal Idris 5. Anthony Don 6. Aidan Sezer 7. Albert Kelly 8. Luke Bailey 9. Matt Srama 10. Luke Douglas 20. Greg Bird (c) 12. Mark Minichiello 13. Ashley Harrison
Interchange: 14. Mark Ioane 15. Ryan James 16. Ben Ridge 17. Sam Irwin
TEAM NEWS - Newcastle are 1-17. The Gold Coast Titans lose Dave Taylor from the starting lineup, replaced by NSW representative forward and club co-captain Greg Bird in jersey #20.
Weather not the best at Hunter Stadium as the Titans head out onto the field
1 min: Play underway at Hunter Stadium, Knights have the first possession of the match
2 min: Both sides complete their opening sets conservatively
2 min: UNFORCED ERROR GOLD COAST TITANS
Anthony Don makes an unforced error.
First error made by Anthony Don, slips over in his own ingoal as the Jarrod Mullen grubber came to him, Titans dropout
3 min: UNFORCED ERROR NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS
Willie Mason makes an unforced error.
First play off the dropout sees Willie Mason leave the ball behind him
4 min: TIME OFF at Hunter Stadium with Jamal Idris looking to suffer a nasty knee/ankle injury
6 min: Some strong defence from the Titans sees Dane Gagai slid over the touchline
8 min: PENALTY KNIGHTS - Titans ruled to be offside, Knights start their next set 13m out from the Titans line
11 min: TRY NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS
Scored by Tyrone Roberts. Conversion attempt by Tyrone Roberts successful.
Tyrone Roberts takes advantage of the sliding Titans defence to go through and score off the back of the Penalty
Newcastle Knights 6-0
13 min: Newcastle showing some aggression in defence and forces a forward pass from the Titans
13 min: VIDEO REFEREE: Checking a possible Darius Boyd try, checking grounding & hold back, Referee Jason Robinson says he has a PENALTY TRY
13 min: TRY NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS
Scored by Darius Boyd. Conversion attempt by Tyrone Roberts successful.
PENALTY TRY - Darius Boyd denied an opportunity for clean grounding through an illegal holdback, Video Refs agree with the onfield call of Jason Robinson
Newcastle Knights 12-0
17 min: Knights to get a repeat set, after the Titans make a play on the Tyrone Roberts kick
17 min: TRY NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS
Scored by James McManus. Conversion attempt by Tyrone Roberts successful.
Simple ball movement from the Knights creates an overlap for James McManus to score in the corner
Newcastle Knights 18-0
21 min: UNFORCED ERROR GOLD COAST TITANS
Anthony Don makes an unforced error.
Anthony Don for the second time this afternoon can't take a skidding ball, Knights on the attack again
22 min: VIDEO REFEREE: Possible try for James McManus, Checking Sideline, Referee Shayne Hayne says TRY
22 min: TRY NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS
Scored by James McManus. Conversion attempt by Tyrone Roberts unsuccessful.
The Knights take the advantage of poor defence out wide to score through James McManus, To make it worse for the titans its been awarded as an 8 point Try
Newcastle Knights 22-0
22 min: SUCCESSFUL PENALTY GOAL NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS
Penalty goal attempt by Tyrone Roberts successful.
Tyrone Roberts adds the 2 points to make it a 6 points from the McManus try even though he missed the conversion
Newcastle Knights 24-0
25 min: VIDEO REFEREE: Checking a possible Joseph Leilua try, checking ground, Referee Shayne Hayne says TRY
25 min: TRY NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS
Scored by Joseph Leilua. Conversion attempt by Tyrone Roberts successful.
The Knights have their fifth try of the match, this time through Joseph Leilua
Newcastle Knights 30-0
27 min: Over the last 20 minutes the possession rate is 86% to the Knights
30 min: TRY NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS
Scored by James McManus. Conversion attempt by Tyrone Roberts successful.
James McManus gets his HAT TRICK after just 29 minutes, takes advantage of the wet conditions to slide over the line from about 5m out, Titans with massive issues on their wide defence
Newcastle Knights 36-0
32 min: Knights looking strong in defence as well as attack, forcing the Titans kicks to find the Knights on the full
32 min: The Knights try the left side raid again however it takes 4 Titans to take Leilua over the touch line
35 min: Day not going right for the Titans, their best attacking chance ends with extremely poor play
36 min: This time the Knights try a play over on the right side but end up being tackled 20m out from the Titans line on the last tackle
38 min: Titans get some luck from the Referees, Albert Kelly looks to have knocked on to another Titans player who was offside but let go, then Zillman looked to be tackled and offloaded off the ground but again let to play on
40 min: FOX SPORTS have just reported that Jamal Idris has been taken away from the Hunter Stadium complex to hospital by Ambulance
41 min: Second Half Underway at Hunter Stadium
41 min: Again the Titans have started the half very badly, with a drop ball on tackle 1
41 min: TRY NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS
Scored by James McManus. Conversion attempt by Tyrone Roberts successful.
AWESOME FOURSOME - James McManus has scored his fourth try of the match out on the left side for the Knights, Any chance the Titans had of mounting a comeback is now gone
Newcastle Knights 42-0
43 min: Fox Sports reporting that the news is Jamal Idris has a suspected broken Ankle
45 min: Titans have possession and started their 90m from their Opponents tryline, at least they made it up close to halfway
48 min: Day getting worse for the Titans with Ashley Harrison being assisted off the field
50 min: Second half turning more into an armwrestle than the first half
50 min: Day going even worse for the Titans with Greg Bird down with an injury
53 min: Hunter Stadium started to resemble a mud bath, with big patches of mud started to form in the centre of the field
54 min: PENALTY TITANS: Willie Mason penalised and put on report for a high tackle
56 min: The Knights to take a dropout after Mullen runs the ball dead, Knights not having many problems with the Titans attack
57 min: Titans try an attacking kick but it goes dead with no real pressure on the Knights defenders
59 min: What's the word to describe the performance from the Titans today? Awful seems to be too easy on how they've played today
59 min: Knights try some adventurous play on tackle 2, with Mullen trying a crossfield kick to Akila Uate who can't get a clean take on it
61 min: Like night follows day, Titans get a scrum feed and on the very first play they drop the ball
61 min: TRY NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS
Scored by Jarrod Mullen. Conversion attempt by Tyrone Roberts unsuccessful.
Jarrod Mullen shows good speed from the scrum to score and slide over the line, the conversion is a shocker from Tyrone Roberts
Newcastle Knights 46-0
67 min: Knights looking to get to 50, they have posession 20m out from Titans line
68 min: TRY GOLD COAST TITANS
Scored by Kevin Gordon. Conversion attempt by Aidan Sezer unsuccessful.
Kevin Gordon goes 100m to get the Titans their opening points of the match
Newcastle Knights 46-4
70 min: Inside the final 10 minutes, and the Titans will be hoping it goes through quickly so they can end their miserable day in the Hunter
72 min: Greg Bird tests out Danny Buderus' back surgery with a massive hit that dislodges the ball
74 min:
A short interchange of passes and some Greg Bird strength gives the Titans back to back tries
Newcastle Knights 46-10
76 min: Knights try some audacious play on their own goalline through new recruit Craig Gower
77 min: Titans try a 40/20 but the mud is the only thing stopping it from going over the touchline, Knights in possession 10m out from their own line
79 min: 60 seconds left, Titans on the attack looking to get a third try, Knights might try for 50
80 min: TRY GOLD COAST TITANS
Scored by David Mead. Conversion attempt by Aidan Sezer successful.
David Mead scores the Titans third try to put a bit more respectability into the score
Newcastle Knights 46-16
80 min: FULL TIME at Hunter Stadium and the Knights have run out 46-16 winners over the Gold Coast Titans
Discuss in forums
More articles