Tigers too hot for Titans

The Wests Tigers have trounced the Gold Coast Titans 42 points to 12 in front of 12,038 fans at Cbus Super Stadium this afternoon. Robbie Farah dominated the ruck off the back of his workhorse pack with custodian James Tedesco chiming in superbly to demoralise the home side.

Gold Coast Titans gave their members little to be happy about in Member’s Round at Robina. The Titans and their fans wilted in the heat and the onslaught on the field from the Tigers. From the get go the Tigers looked like they were running downhill as the Titans had no answer to their energetic and up tempo play. 

Robbie Farah was the catalyst for just about everything good for the Tigers and it was following a Farah bust early in the tackle count that mercurial winger Pat Richards opened the scoring in the left corner. Simple hands movement ended with Richards running into a yawning gap in the 4th minute. Farah then opened the Titans up again and on the end of that set it was rookie Luke Brooks grubbering perfectly for James Tedesco to score under the posts to make the score 10 nil after 7 minutes. 

A contentious video ref decision ruling against the on field ref who had awarded the try to Martin Taupau followed which meant that the Titans were lucky to only be down by 10. 

An injury to Chris Lawrence (hamstring) had Tigers fans worried and when Greg Bird split the defence and found Aidan Sezer in support for a try the Titans looked like a different side. Albert Kelly then made his obligatory long break downfield and David Mead looked set to score however he lost the ball in a heavy tackle. That seemed to be the turning point in the half with the Tigers going on to bag two more tries, to Richards (31st minute) and ex-Titan Bodene Thompson (38th minute). 

A half time score of 22-6 to the Tigers meant that the Titans had to be first out of the blocks in the second stanza. The exact opposite happened as the Tigers again lead by Farah started with a 70 metre set and had a try disallowed but went over legitimately a minute later through David Nofoaluma, hitting a Brooks inside ball perfectly. 

The game then became a 'scrapathon' as the Titans could not hold onto it and the Tigers smelt blood. Martin Taupau strolled through a gap in the 59th minute and the only question left was the Tigers by how much. An 80 metre special from Albert Kelly was the only bright spot for the Titans who will be sweating on the fitness of hard man Greg Bird (shoulder) and Beau Falloon (knee). 

The highlight of the second half was a superb team try finished by Luke Brooks who regathered a grubber from Tedesco who himself had gathered up a chip from Farah. 

A final score of 42-12 fairly reflected the Tigers absolute domination in this game and the Titans have a lot of work to do before round 3 whilst the Tigers will fly back to Sydney with smiles as wide as some of the gaps in the Titans ruck defence.

Match Details
Gold Coast Titans 12 Wests Tigers 42
Venue: Cbus Super Stadium

Crowd: 12,038

Halftime Score: Gold Coast Titans 6 Wests Tigers 22

LeagueUnlimited.com Players of the Match:
3 points - Robbie Farah
2 points - Aaron Woods
1 point - James Tedesco

GOLD COAST TITANS (12)
Tries: Aidan Sezer, Albert Kelly
Field Goals:
Conversions: Aidan Sezer (2/2)
Penalty Goals:

WESTS TIGERS (42)
Tries: Pat Richards (2), James Tedesco, Bodene Thompson, David Nofoaluma, Martin Taupau, Luke Brooks
Field Goals:
Conversions: Pat Richards (6/7)
Penalty Goals: Pat Richards (1/1)

LeagueUnlimited.com Live Commentary

A very good afternoon to you and welcome to Cbus Super Stadium in Robina for Member's Round 2. Today sees the Gold Coast Titans in their first home game of the season, hosting the Wests Tigers. It's a lovely day for footy (if a little hot) with a current temperature of 30 degrees and due to the magic of the interwebs I can tell you it may peak at 32 degrees a bit later this afternoon. The home side are coming off a scrappy win against the Sharks with little Albert Kelly proving the difference. The Tigers will do well to contain Albert, though the rewards may just come if they can, after being thoroughly outplayed by a hot and cold Dragons side. James Tedesco was a standout for Tigers in that game though youngster Luke Brooks, at half back seemingly has the rugby league world at his feet, and will look to show people that he is worthy of all the buzz.. I'll be back with any changes before kick off.

Team Changes: Titans are 1-13 per program. Ben Ridge is onto the bench with Mark Minichiello ill this week and Ryan James not required. For the Tigers, David Nofoaluma comes onto the wing in place of the injured Marika Koroibete, and Liam Fulton's concussion last weekend sees him miss out this week, with Keith Galloway starting at prop and Cory Paterson coming into a starting second row position.

Teams coming on to the field now. Strap yourselves in!!

Sensibly, there will be drink breaks today and a 17 minute half time break due to the heat.

1: Tigers kick off and we're underway at Cbus.

1: PENALTY - Titans. Tigers holding on in the tackle.

2: Adam Blair comes up with a big hit on Beau Falloon and he drops it. Tigers with the ball now.

3: PENALTY Tigers - Titans offside. Tigers tap it 10 metres out.

4: VIDEO REF - Possible Tigers try to Pat Richards in the left corner. Checking obstruction.

4: TRY WESTS TIGERS
Scored by Pat Richards. Kick to come.
Tigers open the scoring through Richards and it was lovely ball movement which gave him too much space and it looked easy in the end.

4: UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION WESTS TIGERS
Conversion attempt by Pat Richards unsuccessful.
And Richards fails to convert his own try.

6: Robbie Farah busts the Titans wide open and the Titans are looking soft today..

7: TRY WESTS TIGERS
Scored by James Tedesco. Kick to come.
James Tedesco scores from a simple Luke Brooks grubber. Mark that down to Farah who sent them upfield early in that set.

8: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION WESTS TIGERS
Conversion attempt by Pat Richards successful.
Easy conversion for Richards.

9: UNFORCED ERROR WESTS TIGERS
Robbie Farah makes an unforced error.
An easy 60 metre set ends with an error from Farah and the Titans will feed the scrum on halfway.

10: Goal line dropout for the Tigers with a towering bomb by Aidan Sezer defused by Tedesco. And the dropout goes 70 METRES on the fly!

11: David Nofoaluma takes a cross field kick in goal and the Tigers will have 7 tackles starting from the 20 metre mark.

14: Farah's last tackle kick goes dead and the Titans will reply with zero tackle starting on the 20.

15: Nofoaluma defuses another bomb well facing into the sun. Tigers work it out again.

15: PENALTY Tigers - William ZIllman knocks on the bomb and Nate Myles is offside accidentally.

16: VIDEO REF - Possible Tigers try to Martin Tapau under the posts.

17: No Try. A long, long deliberation by the video refs but it goes against the on field ref's decision and is ruled lost in the in goal. Hmmmm. Contentious one that.

17: PENALTY - Titans. Holding down in the tackle.

18: PENALTY - Titans. And again, a repeat.

18: UNFORCED ERROR GOLD COAST TITANS
Dave Taylor makes an unforced error.
The Coal Train Dave Taylor knocks on, pressure released.

19: PENALTY - Tigers. Goes against Greg Bird who went high. No report though.

21: DRINKS BREAK. Phew.. The Titans will be loving this break, as they were shot to bits. The Tigers are looking slick today.

21: Apparently Chris Lawrence has gone off with some sort of injury. Unfortunate for Lawrence..

22: Sezer was tackled by Sauaso Sue after he kicked it and he is out and face down, Sue that is!!

22: Lawrence has a hamstring issue.

22: PENALTY - Tigers. Hand in the play the ball. The kick has not gone out though, Titans on the attack.

23: TRY GOLD COAST TITANS
Scored by Aidan Sezer. Kick to come.
Chalk that up to Greg Bird who forced his way through the first line of defence and found Sezer backing up for an under the posts special!

24: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION GOLD COAST TITANS
Conversion attempt by Aidan Sezer successful.
And Sezer makes no mistake.

26: This game has changed since the penalty kick not out on the full from the Tigers!

27: WOAH!! Albert Kelly made a scorching 60 metre run down the middle of the park and found David Mead in support but Mead loses it as he is collared immediately. Tigers scrum feed 20 metres from their own line.

29: UNFORCED ERROR GOLD COAST TITANS
David Mead makes an unforced error.
Mead knocks on from dummy half. Tigers on the attack just inside the Titans half.

30: Mead knocks on again this time from a Brooks kick and the Tigers will start the set on the 10 metre line.

31: TRY WESTS TIGERS
Scored by Pat Richards. Kick to come.
Pat Richards bags a double with a nice set play from the Tigers. Farah wrapped around, handed it off to Braith Anasta who did well to dummy then cutout 2 players to put Richards over.

32: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION WESTS TIGERS
Conversion attempt by Pat Richards successful.
Lovely sideline conversion from Richards. Straight through the hey diddle diddle.

35: Tedesco stays down after being swung by Bull Bailey. He's good though after squirting some water down his...pants..?

36: UNFORCED ERROR GOLD COAST TITANS
Paul Carter makes an unforced error.
Forward pass from Paul Carter at dummy half. Momentum killer after Kevin Gordon had them on the front foot with a superb dummy half run.

38: VIDEO REF - Possible Tigers try from an Anasta kick.

38: TRY WESTS TIGERS
Scored by Bodene Thompson. Kick to come.
Ex-Titan Boden Thompson out jumps Zillman and manages to get it down next to the posts. Excellent work from the second rower!

39: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION WESTS TIGERS
Conversion attempt by Pat Richards successful.
Too easy for Richards.

40: Titans will have 2 tackles in attack here with an error from the Tigers deep in their own half.

40: PENALTY - Titans. WOW! Pat Richards pounced on an error and ran 70 metres then the Tigers kicked, Mead took the kick but was tackled in the air. The Tigers almost went over again at the death!!

40: HALF TIME - Wests Tigers 22 lead the Gold Coast Titans 6. A dominant display from the Tigers in the heat sees them go to the extended half time break leading by lots! Geez these new rules have the game moving quicker than ever but on days like today the players will surely feel it!! We'll see you soon with the second half.

41: And we're underway in the second half.

42: VIDEO REF - Possible Tigers try.

42: No Try. James Gavet unlucky to knock on from a deflection. Tigers scrum feed in the Titans red zone.

44: TRY WESTS TIGERS
Scored by David Nofoaluma. Kick to come.
Sensational solo effort from Nofoaluma as he takes an inside ball from Brooks and runs through 4 Titans defenders to score just the right of the uprights.

44: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION WESTS TIGERS
Conversion attempt by Pat Richards successful.
Another conversion to Richards.

45: PENALTY - Tigers. Titans err in the play the ball.

47: Pressure increases on the Titans as they will drop out from under their sticks. Though Tigers knock on.

48: PENALTY - Titans. Greg Bird taken in a late tackle.

49: Another 90 metre set from the Tigers with Farah absolutely dominating the ruck and showing his class.

54: Titans all over the shop in defence. The Tigers are playing touch footy. It's like schoolboy footy with everyone wanting to score a try!

55: Error on the 5th tackle from the Tigers and the Titans will start the set on their own line.

56: Kelly loses the ball in the tackle right on half way. Tigers again on the attack inside the Titans half.

57: PENALTY - Titans. Kevin Gordon took the cross field kick beautifully but was tackled illegally in the air by Nofoaluma.

58: Albert Kelly is stripped one on one the the Titans.

59: TRY WESTS TIGERS
Scored by Martin Taupau. Kick to come.
It's a smash up derby as Martin Tapau hits the gap at speed and scores to the right of the posts.

60: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION WESTS TIGERS
Conversion attempt by Pat Richards successful.
Pat Richards converts another. and that's DRINKS.

61: Titans get us underway in the 4th quarter of this one-sided contest.

63: Ashley Harrison kicks on the last and it goes dead. The Tigers with 7 tackles to start from their own 20.

66: Greg Bird shows his frustration as he knocks on then throws it in disgust at Adam Blair. Handbags at 5 paces ensues. Tigers scrum on halfway.

67: PENALTY - Tigers. Matt White with a hand in the play the ball.

67: VIDEO REF - Possible Titans try to Albert Kelly.

69: TRY GOLD COAST TITANS
Scored by Albert Kelly. Kick to come.
80 metre solo effort from Albert Kelly who pounced on an error from Luke Brooks and whizzed down field untouched.

69: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION GOLD COAST TITANS
Conversion attempt by Aidan Sezer successful.
Sezer adds the extras.

71: Titans lose the ball on half way. Not a great display from the home side today.

70: Greg Bird is down and clutching at his shoulder. Beau Falloon is also injured.

70: Falloon is off the field. Bird may have a dislocated shoulder. Ouch. Doesn't look good.

70: Or a broken arm. He looks ordinary the Birdman.

70: Tigers scrum feed on their own 20 after Sezer's kick finds touch on the last. Both sides looking like radar operators in the Andaman Sea out there today.

72: VIDEO REF - Possible Tigers try.

74: TRY WESTS TIGERS
Scored by Luke Brooks. Kick to come.
Kick from Farah over the defence sees Tedesco regather the kick again and youngster Luke Brooks touches down for a try. Champagne footy that.

75: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION WESTS TIGERS
Conversion attempt by Pat Richards successful.
Richards adds another.

76: Titans crowd leaving in droves. Fair enough I reckon.

77: Tigers scrum feed in the Titans red zone after an error. Can they score again?

77: No, they knock it on. Everyone looks over it and ready for a beverage.

79: PENALTY - Tigers. Tedesco held back in back play. Tigers looking to add an exclamation mark onto their effort today.

80: Richards to attempt the 2 points in a strange decision, but fair enough as it is HOT out there.

80: SUCCESSFUL PENALTY GOAL WESTS TIGERS
Penalty goal attempt by Pat Richards successful.
And Pat Richards adds the final points of the game.

80: FULL TIME. Wests Tigers 42 defeated the Gold Coast Titans 12. And that's that, mercifully for Titans supporters. Thanks for joining us today. Watch out for the match report on the website soon!