The Aquis Gold Coast Titans have suffered another heavy defeat, this time 34-0 to an impressive ladder leading Brisbane Broncos at Suncorp Stadium.
The Titans played with a lot more enthusiasm than in the previous two rounds but were outclassed by a Broncos side that made few errors and defended extremely well.
The Broncos led 18-0 at half-time after scoring three tries in 11 minutes and they carried on with the job in the second half.
The Broncos’ first half tries came from 12th minute mark, in a similar situation to the round six clash at Cbus Super Stadium. It saw the game change quickly after the Titans matched the Broncos in most areas in the early exchanges.
The Titans controlled the ball well early and met the Broncos with enthusiasm but Corey Parker gave Brisbane an early try when he beat Agnatius Paasi off a great Ben Hunt pass and ran in under the posts for 6-0.
Darius Boyd scored next when, after a penalty then a line drop out, Boyd chimed in on the right and got on the outside of Kane Elgey and Nene Macdonald on the right edge for 10-0.
The Titans were still in the game but Ben Hunt broke their hearts with a brilliant individual try. He dummied and stepped past Paasi then beat Josh Hoffman with a brilliant step at full pace to go in under the posts. Parker converted for 6-0.
Just before half-time came a bizarre moment when Andrew McCullough tapped the ball on his foot just as a signal came from the sideline to take a kick at goal. Ryan James came in and smashed him in a tackle but incredibly the referees ruled McCullough hadn’t tapped the ball and could change the decision and kick for goal. Parker landed the points for an 18-0 Broncos lead at the break.
The Titans lost halfback Kane Elgey just three minutes into the second half when he was concussed when hit in a late tackle by Adam Blair that was put on report and that certainly didn’t help their cause with Elgey and Aidan Sezer reunited for just 43 minutes.
Just seven minutes into the second half Jarrod Wallace scored under the posts after what appeared a forward pass from Anthony Millford that went undetected. Jordan Kahu’s easy conversion made it 24-0.
The Titans were almost on the board in the 56th minute when a Sezer bomb to the right corner was contested by Corey Oates and David Mead and Greg Bird dived on the loose ball but it was ruled a knock on and video replays failed to give enough evidence to overrule the initial decision.
Only six minutes later the Broncos scored their fifth try when Kodi Nikorima crossed from dummy half. He dummied to the right and darted left beating a slow reacting Paasi and Josh Hoffman. Parker converted for 30-0.
Alex Glenn continued the scoring when he ran onto a lovely pass from Millford from a scrum and ran diagonally 30 metres to cross on the left side. The scrum came after Kevin Gordon was ruled to have lost the ball when it looked like it went backwards.
Brisbane 34 (Parker, Boyd, Hunt, Wallace, Nikorima, Glenn tries; Parker 4, Kahu goals) beat Aquis Titans 0 at Suncorp Stadium. Crowd: 27,664.
