Titans thrash Sharks in Darwin

The Gold Coast Titans have thrashed the Cronulla Sharks 40-16 in last night's NRL trial match played at Richardson Park in Darwin.

Playing in his first match in Australia for two years, five eighth Trent Barrett was warmly welcomed by the 9,000-strong crowd as he entered the field.

But Barrett and his halves combination with rookie Blake Green failed to gel on the night.

The Titans scored two tries the first quarter as halfback Scott Prince dominated proceedings.

Three of the first four Titans' tries were scored by forwards as the Sharks were unable to muscle up, the Titans speedsters capitalising on this groundwork to post the run away result.

Sharks hooker Corey Hughes was a standout in his debut. But Sharks rookie lock forward Jason Bukuya was carried from the field in the 60th minute, reportedly with a serious ankle injury.

GOLD COAST 40 (S Tagataese L O'Dwyer M Minichiello B Delaney I Donnelly E Tonga J Graham tries S Prince 6 goals) bt CRONULLA 16 (K Snowdon C Hughes D Simmons tries M Brown 2 goals) Saturday 21 February 2008 19:30 (ACDT), 20:00 (AEDT), 19:00 (AEST) Richardson Park, Darwin NT. Crowd: Approx 9,173.

TEAMS SHARKS: Brett Kearney, Misi Taulapapa, Mitch Brown, Ben Pomeroy, David Simmons, Trent Barrett, Blake Green, Luke Douglas, Corey Hughes, Ben Ross, Bryan Norrie, Reece Williams, Jayson Bukuya, Jack Afamasaga, Kade Snowden, Terence Seu Seu, Atelia Vea, Trent Trotter, Jacob Selmes, Matt Wright, Jonathan Tavinor, Nathan Stapleton, Blake Ferguson TITANS:1. Preston Campbell 2. Jordan Atkins 3. Josh Graham 4. Brett Delaney 5. Esi Tonga 6. Mat Rogers 7. Scott Prince (C) 8. Luke Bailey (C) 9. Nathan Friend 10. Matthew White 11. Anthony Laffranchi 12. Mark Minichiello 13. Luke O