Dragons dispose of luckless Titans

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Gold Coast Titans v St George Illawarra Dragons

The Dragons have gone back to back for the first time in 2020, beating an injury riddled Gold Coast side and giving veteran prop James Graham a farewell to remember in what was probably his final game in the NRL.

The Titans actually had the better start of the two sides, being awarded a penalty off their first set for late contact on Ash Taylor after his kick. They opted to take the 2 and they lead the Dragons just 3 minutes into the clash. 

Gold Coast then had ample opportunity to extend their lead prior to the penalty goal, but they were unable to extend their lead as sets right on the Dragons line kept turning into 7 tackle sets for the joint venture. An expansive play at the start of one of these sets put the Dragons in a position to build some pressure, and a kick from Corey Norman put his side right back in the mix by forcing Phillip Sami to take it dead. 

A brilliant ball from Matt Dufty put Zac Lomax into a hole off the dropout, and from there the young centre made Titans debutant Corey Thompson look silly, easily beating him with footwork to score the first try of the match in the 18th minute.

It was just under 10 minutes before the Titans again put themselves under the pump, Phillip Sami dropping a Dragons bomb gifting them possession in the attacking red zone. The mistake in play wasn't as bad as the challenge that ensued, with Kevin Proctor challenging what was a clear knock-on. The Dragons made them pay, with Corey Norman throwing the first of many cutout balls to put Mikaele Ravalawa into space and the Fijian winger made what felt like his only catch of the day to score untouched.

The scoring for the first half was rounded out by a Zac Lomax penalty goal right on the half time hooter, making the half time scoreline 14-2 in favour of the Dragons.

St George Illawarra only took 8 minutes to get on the board in the second half after a momentum changing but correct obstruction call went against the Titans as they were starting to get on the attack. Jordan Pereira scored from the resulting set off a peach of a pass by rookie halfback Adam Clune, putting the Dragons in a prime position to run away with it. 

Things took a drastic turn for the worse for the Titans, losing starting backline members Corey Thompson, Phillip Sami and Young Tonumaipea all being ruled out, forcing Tyrone Peachey to fill in at fullback. It was an extremely dour final 25 minutes or so, with both sides making ample mistakes and missing opportunities to put points on the board. The Titans aimed up in defence in what was one of a not very long list of positives to take out of the match for the embattled Gold Coast franchise.

They finally got on the board in the 77th minute, with a bomb from Ashley Taylor tapped back by Tyrone Peachey to Kevin Proctor, who got it to rookie Tanah Boyd who scored a well deserved try to cap the scoring of the match off. 

The Dragons have a much tougher task next week, facing off against defending premiers the Roosters on Friday night, while the Titans will tackle the Broncos on Saturday evening.