The Aquis Gold Coast Titans have suffered a 38-6 defeat at the hands of the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in front of crowd of 9,632 fans who braved chilly conditions at Cbus Super Stadium tonight.
The Titans were their own worst-enemy in the first-half with ill-discipline, simple errors and a 6 per cent completion rate resigning them to a 20-0 half-time deficit.
The Titans cleaned up their completion rates in the second-half but were unable to contain a Manly outfit full of confidence with the away-side scoring three second-half tries to run away with the 38-0 victory.
The loss was compounded with a hand injury to skipper Nate Myles who was forced from the field early in the second-half.
A favourable penalty count gifted Manly early attacking possession and they took full advantage to post first points after a Daly Cherry-Evans delayed cut-out pass found Tom Trbojevic to score untouched in the corner for a 4-0 lead after 11 minutes of play.
Manly extended their lead in the 26th minute after a crafty blind-side play by Brett Stewart from dummy-half put a barnstorming Jorge Taufua across the line for an 8-0 lead.
The Titans errors and ill-discipline continued to gift Manly attacking position and they capitalised in the 31st minute with a inside-outside set piece on the last play resulting in Brett Stewart crossing for his 11th try of the season before Jamie Lyon added the extras to give Manly a 14-0 lead.
With the momentum in their favour, Manly continued to threaten with the ball and started an attacking raid inside their own half with Stewart slicing through the defence before getting a ball away to Taufua to grab his second try of the night. With Lyon finding his form with the boot, Manly took a 20-0 half-time lead
Manly started the second-half with strongly and continued to cause problems for the Titans defence with Lyon slicing through from inside his own half before drawing-and-passing to Foran to score next to the posts to give Lyon an easy conversion and the side a 26-0 lead after 45 minutes of play.
The match turned into an arm-wrestle with both sides going set-for-set before a penalty gifted Manly a repeat set on the Titans line and they extended their lead with Willie Mason barging his way across the line under the posts to give Lyon an easy conversion and the side a 32-0 lead going into the final ten minutes of play.
Manly continued their dominance with a Steve Matai break down the middle before a contentious pass which got a knock by David Mead was ruled not to go forward before finding Tom Trbojevic to score his second-try of the night. With Lyon slotting the kick from in-front, Manly took a 38-0 lead.
The Titans scored a late consolation try after Dave Taylor made a bust up the middle before getting a pass away to debutant Nathaniel Peteru to score under the posts giving Kevin Gordon an easy conversion to reel the full-time deficit back to 38-6.
The Titans will look to hit-back next week when they take on the Newcastle Knights at Hunter Stadium.
Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 38 (J Taufua 2, T Trbojevic 2, B Stewart, K Foran, W Mason tries; J Lyon 5 goals) defeated Gold Coast Titans 6 (N Peteru try; K Gordon goal). Crowd: 9632
