Broncos stunning fightback downs the Titans

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Brisbane Broncos v Gold Coast Titans

Brisbane have registered their second win of the season after at one stage being down by 22 points in an extraordinary game of rugby league at Suncorp Stadium tonight to win 36-28 over the Titans.

The Broncos were simply blown off the park by their neighbours early conceding four Titans tries before running riot from the back end of the first half to score 6 tries in the definition of a see-sawing affair.

Brisbane fullback Jamayne Isaako was the standout for the visitors, amassing 24 points which included 2 tries and 2 assists in a career best performance. Big name forwards Payne Hass and Tevita Pangai were also outstanding for the home side and laid the platform for a potentially season defining win.

Alarm bells will now be ringing for the Titans coaching staff, with the side now having leaked 112 points in the past 3 weeks. Defensively the Gold Coast have an enormous amount of work to do if they are serious about finals football in 2021.

All the pre-match hype for the South Queensland derby was surrounding Titans marquee signing David Fifita who came up against his former club for the first time and it was the Titans who got off to a dream start, when Ash Taylor provided a lovely deft kick at the line, which saw skipper Kevin Proctor easily collect the ball to score under the posts to get the visitors flying out of the blocks.

In horrible scenes for coach Kevin Walters, the Broncos then gave away a penalty off the kickoff, when Jamayne Isaako kicked the ball dead from the re-start. Jamal Fogarty then drifted across field on the last and placed a beautiful kick out wide for his winger Corey Thompson who scored to extend the visitors lead to 10-0 in as many minutes.

Gold Coast again marched up field and it was Fogarty again with a neat kick on the last which this time found a flying AJ Brimson to score the third try of the night to make it 16-0 following Fogarty's easy conversion.

The Titans continued the rampage just minutes later when Brimson and Tyrone Peachey then combined in the middle of the field, which led to Peachey racing away to embarrass the home side and extend their dominance to a 22-0 lead.

The Broncos then finally came to the party, when centre Herbie Farnworth blew past a few Titans would-be defenders to finally get his side on the scoreboard after a dire opening 20 minutes. Isaako thankfully nailed the conversion from the sideline to give the Broncos a pulse.

Pulses of the home crowd were then racing when Brisbane five-eighth Anthony Milford laid on a superb pass for Isaako off a set piece and the Broncos out of nowhere were back in the game with back-to-back tries narrowing the Titans lead to 22-12.

The game then turned on its head when AJ Brimson then was then sent to the Sin Bin, after Tyson Gamble made a break and Brimson couldn't resist in making a second effort in slowing down the play the ball.

Xavier Coates then made the extra man advantage count, when he scored the Broncos third just before the break. This was followed by Broncos backrower Tevita Pangai Jr creating a chance down the right hand side. The big forward then found Isaako backing up on the inside to score and incredibly get the game back on an even keel at 22 all at halftime.

Brisbane then hit the front after the break when Corey Oates snatched an intercept off Ash Taylor with the rangy winger racing the length of the field to score a superb try. The Broncos then scored again when Jesse Arthars scored in the corner after a set play from Gamble and Isaako.

Jamal Fogarty then made a crucial error by floating a Titans dropout over the sideline on the full. Jamayne Isaako took the two points on offer to make it 36-22 with less than 20 minutes to go.

The Titans were then sensationally denied two tries by the Video Referee before hooker Mitch Rein darted out of dummy half to just scrape the tryline and narrow the lead to 36-28.

Incredibly the Titans were again denied by the Video Referee for a third time when David Fifita (who was denied twice), grounded the ball on the dead ball line from a Mitch Rein bat back. The decision summed up the second half for the visitors, where they just couldn't find any luck to claw their way back into the match, eventually going down 36-28.

The win for the Broncos was a huge relief for coach Kevin Walters who has been under enormous pressure and they will now travel to Townsville in Round 9 where they face the in-form Cowboys next Saturday.

The Titans now must dust themselves off and work on their defence before they travel to Campbelltown next Saturday afternoon where they face the Tigers.