NYC Round 6: TITANS vs DRAGONS (Under 20s)

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TITANS vs DRAGONS

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YOUNG DRAGONS LOOKING TO BOUNCE BACK AGAINST TITANS

The St George Illawarra Dragons NYC side will be looking to bounce back from last weekend’s loss to the Broncos with a strong showing against the Gold Coast Titans this Friday.

NYC winger Simon Maslanka believes the Dragons will be up for a tough contest against the Titans after struggling to get into the game against a physical Broncos line-up.

“It was a tough game, we didn’t really get a roll on and the Broncos dominated us a bit and we were pretty flat in our tackling as well.

“We’ve just really got to dominate our tackles this weekend against the Titans, really get in tight, get our numbers in (the tackles) and really dominate them,” Maslanka said.

The young Dragons have had to overcome their fair share of adversity so far this season with a myriad of key players suffering long term injuries.

Coach Adrian Lam has been forced to play a number of younger, inexperienced players who have stepped in and performed with distinction.

Experienced five-eighth Beau Henry is one player who has overcome his injury problems to take part in the Dragons last two outings and Maslanka believes it has given the Dragons a timely boost.

“It’s good to have Beau back. He gives us a bit more direction then what we’ve had, he’s been doing pretty well for us. The first week he was back he played excellently so it’s good (to have him back).”

While the Dragons are coming off a loss, the Titans have been without a win in their last three matches, including a draw against the Storm last week. Both teams will be eager to secure two points in order push their claims for a place in the top eight. The Dragons sit in 12th spot on the Toyota Cup ladder with the Titans located two positions higher.

Source: http://www.dragons.com.au

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NYC Titans v NYC Dragons
5.20pm Kick-off

1 Jamie Dowling
2 Japeth Vaoa
3 Sione Aka’uola
4 Stirling Siejka
5 Matthew Hundy
6 Jordan Rankin
7 Cody Walker
8 Josh Coyle
9 Matthew Srama
10 Luke Page
11 Dominic Walsh
12 Leon Taylor
13 Kurt Foggo

Interchange
14 Tim James
15 Chris Bloomfield
16 Steve Gillett
17 Sam Saville
18 Jack Bruton

Coach: Rod Patison

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Wounded Titans NYC fall to Dragons

The Jetstar Gold Coast Titans under-20s have suffered a 30-10 defeat against the St George Illawarra Dragons in a scrappy NYC encounter at Skilled Park this evening.

The Titans went into the match as the walking wounded after losing key players in halfback Cody Walker and second rower Dominic Walsh on game eve along with prop Ronnie Alovilli (suspension) and captain Ryan James (knee injury).

With a reshuffled line-up, the Titans found the going too tough as the Dragons scored a five-tries-to-two victory.

The Titans were outmuscled by a big Dragons pack at times with some individual brilliance from outside backs Japeth Vaoa and Sione Aka’uola producing the only tries of the night for the home side.

The Dragons led 20-4 at halftime and were first to score after the break through David Catteral as the visitors stretched the margin to 26-4.

The Titans fought back with plenty of heart and a bit of luck as a rushed kick from five-eighth Jordan Rankin was nicely regathered by Vaoa who scored a spectacular try when he ducked and weaved his way past Dragons defenders to go in under the posts.

Rankin converted to narrow the gap to 26-10 after 55 minutes.

However, the Titans failed to maintain the pressure as the Dragons hit back with a try to interchange player Alex McKinnon out wide to take a 30-10 lead and wrap up the match.

Earlier it was the Titans who led 4-nil after Rankin put centre Aka’uola in some space to score out wide.

An error from a goal-line drop-out hurt the Titans as the Dragons hit back through some brilliant solo work from winger Kalifa Fai-Fai Loa who scored an acrobatic try in the corner.

Henry nailed the conversation putting the Dragons in front 6-4 after 18 minutes.

The Titans were under all sorts of pressure on their own line as the Dragons capitalised off several repeat sets as Fai- Fai Loa muscled his way over from dummy-half to score his second of the night after 32 minutes.

A converted try to Henry handed the Dragons a healthy 16-4 lead and another to Nathan Green right on the stroke of halftime saw them lead 20-4 at the break.

St George Illawarra Dragons 30 (K Fai-Fai Loa 2, B Henry, N Green, D Catteral, A McKinnon tries; B Henry 3 goals) defeated Gold Coast Titans 10 (S Aka’Uola, J Vaoa tries; J Rankin Goal)

Source: http://www.titans.com.au

[Sydney Titans Fanatic]

yer didnt think we played well...how the hell do the dragons keep getting enough money to pay the ref of in toyota cup