The TFH Gold Coast Titans have produced a near-perfect second-half to produce a 36-12 victory over the New Zealand Warriors at Cbus Super Stadium this afternoon.
The first-half was an arm-wrestle with some Shaun Johnson magic proving the difference with the crafty half showing ominous signs with his runs around the ruck to give the visitors a narrow 12-8 lead going into the break.
But the Titans came out of the sheds firing and with their ruck defence tightened turned their attention to attack to produce a free-flowing style of footy to score five unanswered second-half tries including a double to winger Phillip Sami to keep the 15,149 strong crowd entertained and come away with the 36-12 win.
The win marks the seventh of the season for the Titans with the side showing what they're capable of with young half AJ Brimson guiding the team around the paddock beautifully to score a try and set-up another in a dominant display which takes the Titans to the 16 competitions points and in 12th position on the ladder.
After a mountain of early possession the Titans opened the scoring in the sixth minute through a sweeping back-line play resulting in Konrad Hurell crashing over for a try against his former club. Michael Gordon converted from the sideline to give the Titans a 6-0 lead.
But an error from the Titans on the resulting set which was compounded by a penalty put the Warriors on the attack. They capitalised through crafty halfback, Shaun Johnson who stepped his way through the line to score untouched under the posts before converting his own try to level the score up at 6-all after 12 minutes.
The game turned into an arm-wrestle before Phillip Sami swung the momentum in the Titans favour after collecting a Johnson grubber on his own line before racing 50 metres downfield. The Titans then caught the retreating Warriors defence offside and opted to take the kick at goal but Gordon was unable to add the extras.
The Titans were gifted a penalty in-front in the 28th minute and Gordon made light-work of this one to give the home-side a slim 8-6 lead with just over ten minutes remaining in the half.
A penalty piggy-backed the Warriors up-field and they responded with utility half and former Titan Karl Lawton barging his way across the line before planting the ball down. With Johnson adding the extras, the Warriors took a 12-8 lead after 32 minutes.
The Warriors looked to have pulled off some magic on the stroke of half-time with some razzle-dazzle footy putting Solomone Kata in the clear but his last pass to winger Ken Maumalo was ruled forward leaving the Titans to take a 12-8 deficit into the half-time break.
The Titans started the half the stronger and managed to lock the scores up with Lee putting on a nice step to beat Kata before drawing-and passing to Anthony Don to score in the corner. With Gordon converting, the Titans took a slim 14-12 lead after 44 minutes.
The Titans went back-to-back in the 47th minute with Lee intercepting a Jazz Tevaga pass to race 35 metres to score under the posts to give Gordon an easy conversion and the side a 20-12 lead with just over 30 minutes remaining.
The Titans extended their lead in the 58th minute with utility hooker Mitch Rein slicing his way through the line before offloading to AJ Brimson who dummied his way past Roger Tuivasa-Sheck to score out wide. With Gordon adding the extras, the Titans lead 26-12 with 20 minutes remaining.
With the momentum in their favour, the Titans were playing a free-flowing style of footy and a late Ryan James offload put Gordon in the clear before he got a pass away to Sami who produced arguably one of the steps of the year to beat Tuivasa-Sheck and score his first try of the day untouched under the posts. With Gordon converting, the Titans lead 32-12 with just over ten minutes remaining.
The Titans finished the contest in style with some quick hands from Brimson and Gordon down the left edge putting Sami in for his second of the afternoon to give the side a 36-12 lead with seven minutes remaninig.
The Titans will look to keep their winning ways alive when they take on the Parramatta Eels at ANZ Stadium next Saturday.
Gold Coast Titans 36 (P Sami 2, K Hurrell, A Don, B Lee, A Brimson tries; M Gordon 6 goals) defeated New Zealand Warriors 12 (S Johnson, K Lawton tries; S Johnson 2 goals)
