Round 1: Gold Coast Titans vs St George-Illawarra Dragons

[RichOs69]

and scoring the 3rd try for the Dragons, wearing the pink Jersey
is that ******* of a video referee steve clark
***************

[RichOs69]

"campbell was much better at 9 than brown,"

hmmm... I thought brown played pretty well. Hes not Friend, but i think he stood up and played well, unlike Capewell who had a shocker. I hope he does better in the next game - he's deffinetly cappable of playing better than he did tonight

"i think we should try some scrum kicks for mead and gordan"

Ditto

"and not let bird have the ball on the 4th and 5th because he seems to only hit it up instead of passing"

aww cmon...the little mogrel played his ass off, despite being targeted a VERY capable dragons defencive line-up

[Adelaide Titan]

mmm...very disappointing performance for most parts. Passing in traffic was dismal, Scotty Prince's kicking was way off tonight, the referee was on the Dragons side. didnt deserve to win anyway. Having Mini, Laffranchi, Friend and Meyers out doesnt help but it was an average performance to start the season...luckily the scoreline wasnt one sided. First half Dragons had 2 chances and took them, Titans just couldnt create anything in attack.

[teke]

I thought there were a couple of positives to take out of the game. The Titans looked the fitter side and came over the Dragons strong in the last 30.

The Ref blocking Zillman changed the game no doubt.

at the Taga missiles.

The deft little kicks in play was the main difference, Prince and Presto were just off. Capewell did alright and compliments Prince well.

Geez I hope its not another year where Mead and Gordon have to beg to get the ball

[Boofhead]

Brown had a great game for mine, offered plenty in attack. Bird/Campbell rotation would of been more effective tonight... farewell to Capewell.

Taga was near our best, if he lost that occasional error he would be first choice bench warmer.

Still seeing red over the refs tonight...

[TITAN PETE]

Brown had a great game for mine, offered plenty in attack. Bird/Campbell rotation would of been more effective tonight... farewell to Capewell.

Taga was near our best, if he lost that occasional error he would be first choice bench warmer.

Still seeing red over the refs tonight...

He was Fantastic & James played a great game too , i don't expect to see him back in the 20's anytime soon

There was plenty to like about tonights game when u think about the Ref's effort, Capewell showed glimpses of what he's capable of & our forwards all looked good
Matty White's hit on Boyd
Tag on Nightingale, Cooper & couple of others
Ryan James put some big shots on
Bodene had a few Bell Ringers too

The downside was our kicking game , it was rubbish but it can only improve

I don't think there are going to be many if any changes for the next round & i think Minni,Boof & Red will have to fight their way into the 17 , Friendy is the only 1 guarenteed a walk up start when he returns..

[teke]

Lets be honest fellas, we wont be the 1st or last team to be beaten by a full strength Dragons side this yr.

Its actually looking pretty good knowing our injured players will return soon.

I watched the Storm game and I must say that if you shut down either Kronk, Smith or Slater you go half way to winning the game. They looked soft and I pick the Titans to do them next week.

[Adelaide Titan]

Yep agreed, Tagatese and Brown were the standouts for me too, thats one positive to take away from the game...younger ones stepping up to the task against the reigning premiers.

[TITAN PETE]

Titans crying foul after loss to Dragons

By Wayne Heming AAPSat, Mar 12, 2011 - 11:39 PM

Gold Coast coach John Cartwright claimed a controversial ruling to award St George Illawarra fullback Darius Boyd a try after a referee fell in front of two Titans defenders was "critical" to the outcome of Saturday night's NRL game.

The Dragons won 25-16 at Skilled Park but the talking point was video referee Steve Clark's decision to award Boyd the try after referee Phil Haines stumbled and fell as both fullback William Zillman and Titans captain Scott Prince tried to defend Jamie Soward's kick.

An NRL official later told reporters Clark had been unable to make a decision under the "mutual infringement" rule which covers the ball coming into contact with a referee or a the attacking player with the ball making contact with the referee.

There is no rule that covers the defending playing coming into contact with the referee.

"It didn't cost us the game, but it was critical," Cartwright said.

"A lot of things happen in the course of 80 minutes but it was critical. It (margin) went from seven points to 13 points along with a lot of momentum."

Prince agreed, with his coach saying it was a tough call to make.

"I just remember one ref said to the other ref: `just check that, I think I got in the way'."

Cartwright watched a replay of the incident after the game and felt there was no doubt Zillman was impeded in his effort to get to Soward's kick before Boyd arrived on the scene.

"There's no doubt that the ref was between the ball and Zillman and that Zillman had eyes for the ball and was going to swallow it," said Cartwright.

"You've got to draw your own conclusions. To the letter of the law, I'm not 100 per cent sure but I think there is somewhere in the rules that allows for the spirit of the game or commonsense you would hope."

Dragons coach Wayne Bennett said he felt a try would be awarded at the time.

"I thought 'they can't take that off him, they ran into the ref," said Bennett after the game.

"The ref had taken his position, that's why I think we got the try."

Bennett was full of praise for centre Matt Cooper, who celebrated his 200th game with a win and was given a standing ovation by his teammates as he left the field in front of a sea of red and white jumpers.

"I was pleased for Matt, it's a wonderful milestone," said Bennett, who convinced the Shellharbour junior not to go overseas in 2009 when he arrived at the club.

The Dragons got the jump on the Gold Coast and led 12-0 after tries to hooker Nathan Fien and back-rower Ben Creagh before the Titans crossed just before halftime through centre Steve Michaels, who cashed in after Boyd spilled a Prince bomb.

Soward, whose kicking game was brilliant, snapped a 30-metre metre field goal soon after halftime to extend the lead to 13-6 before Boyd's try drew jeers and boos from Titans fans in the 21,000-strong crowd.

"We were still jet-lagged," said Bennett of his players who two weeks ago were in freezing conditions in the UK beating Wigan for the world club championship.

"Ten days ago we were in zero temperatures and it was humid tonight. We tough it out and hung in."

[Supergoose]

Tagataese and James were excellent tonight and must be retained and I thought Brown did a good job at hooker whereas Presto can do better. Inwas hoping for more from Thompson and Capewell and I hope we preserver with them for longer. I thought Zillman was too quiet and the wingers don't get used enough. Toopi was okay but Michaels lacked impact. I would've liked to see soward try and tackle Tomane instead. Bird needs less ball out on the edge a's it is too predictable - a bit like when Laffranchi is on the right. White was average in the opening stanza. More second man ball to Zillman out the back hitting wingers would be nice too, just like every other side does to score points. And a bit more urgency to defuse kicks would be good too, we can expect a whole lot more to come our way due to being exposed by the Dragons tonight with them Tomanes aerial ability is a must. The short kicking game and the ability to defend it was the main difference, otherwise we were in it up to our eyeballs. I agree that Minichiello and Laffranchi need to earn their way back in. I'd say White should go before James or Taga who we need for sure. Henderson was also pretty good but his spot may also be vulnerable when Laffranchi comes back.

[TITAN PETE]

Dragons Take The Points At Skilled Park
Adam Gardini & Mitchell Olivey
12/03/2011 8:28:25 PM

A controversial second half try emerged the talking point as the Jetstar Gold Coast Titans suffered a 25-16 defeat at the hands of Premiers the St George Illawarra Dragons at Skilled Park tonight.

Before a strong crowd of 21,709 fans, a 55th minute try to Dragons fullback Darius Boyd proved the turning point of the match as a seven point margin at the time turned into a handy 13-point lead for the visitors.

The controversial try occurred after Titans fullback William Zillman collided with referee Phil Haines as he was racing to swoop on a Jamie Soward kick into his own in-goal, with Boyd subsequently scooping on the ball to score.

Video referee Steve Clark ruled the interference from the referee had not impacted on the play and the try was awarded, much to the discontent of Titans fans.

?I?m not 100 per cent clear on the rule .. but you?d hope there was a rule of common sense somewhere in the book there,?? said Titans coach John Cartwright.

?It didn?t cost us the game but it was critical. It went from seven points to 13 points and a lot of momentum.??

Despite the controversy, the Titans showed strength and character to fight back and score two late tries to reduce the winning margin to nine points.

For much of the match, the Titans went toe-to-toe with the defending premiers and coach John Cartwright said they could take plenty of positives from the match.

?I thought we had opportunities to get them, and we competed with them physically, I think you?ll find we won most of the statistics in the game,?? said Cartwright.

?They scored three tries off kicks so I was happy with a lot of areas but I thought we probably squandered the possession.

?St George got that sort of start and they?re hard to hold, they got a bit of confidence out of that and they got in front and we got within six and that was it.

?Physically I didn?t see anything that didn?t make me confident that we are going to be up there and competing with the best.

Cartwright also reserved special praise for the club debut of new recruit Luke Capewell.

?I thought he (Capewell) showed in the second half especially some broken field stuff where he?s going to be a good player,?? he said.

?He?s finding his way, he?s a quiet kid, he?s a country boy but the quicker he gets comfortable in the side he?s going to offer a lot.?

Titans captain Scott Prince was also pleased with the team?s ability to take the game to the Dragons for most of the game.

?They?re a good team you have to match them and get into the grind and go end-to end footy it doesn?t matter how boring it seems to be working for them,? Prince said.

?I thought we matched them in all parts of the game but it was just a certain period in the first half first 10-15 minutes.?

It didn?t take long for the visitors to make their mark on the match with a Ben Creagh offload giving the Dragons handy field position which allowed dummy half Nathan Fien to cross for the game?s first try in the third minute.

The Dragons extended their lead in the 25th minute after a precision chip-kick from Soward found the outstretched arms of Creagh, who planted the ball down next to the posts to hand Soward an easy conversion to take their lead out to 12-0.

It wasn?t until the dying minutes of the half that the Titans were able to register their first points of the 2011 season after a Prince bomb deflected perfectly into centre Steve Michaels? hands to plant the ball down out wide to reduce the margin to 12-6 at the halftime break.
The Dragons opened the scoring in the second-half in unusual fashion with Soward slotting a 47th minute field-goal to take the Dragons lead to 13-6.

The Dragons then extended their lead in even more peculiar fashion when Boyd?s controversial try was awarded.

In the 63rd minute Soward?s left boot put another pin-point chip up to combine again with Boyd who leapt above the Titans defence to score his second try of the night, Soward added the extras taking the Dragons to a 25-6 lead.

The Titans hit back after a brilliantly placed Prince grubber kick bounced up to the awaiting hands of Ashley Harrison who plotted the ball down next to the posts to hand Prince an easy conversion and reel the score back to 25-12 with ten minutes remaining.

A last minute try to utility Sam Tagataese, who barged his way over the Dragons defence and planted the ball down next to the posts was too little too late, and with Prince unable to add the extras the Dragons held on to take the game 25-16.

The Titans will look to hit-back next week when they take on the Melbourne Storm at AAMI Park.

St George Illawarra Dragons 25 ( Tries; Boyd 2, Fien, & Creagh. Soward 3 Goals & 1 Field Goal)

Jetstar Gold Coast Titans 16 ( Tries; Michaels, Harrison, & Tagaetese. Prince 2 Goals)

Jetstar Titans Player of the Match Ashley Harrison

[karnage]

Surprsied by some of the responses. The Dragons are the benchmark for the entire comp and I thought we competed evenly in every aspect except for our attacking kicking game - and that doesn't worry me in the slightest because we know that Princey will come good with a bit more footy under his belt.

Defence was great - their wide shifts were completely nullified and almost all of their tries came from kicks.

Capewell wasn't great but give him time, I have seen much worse debuts.

I thought the only negative was the contribution of Henderson - I hope it was only injuries that got him a game. Compare his contribution to White, Bull, Taga and even the young gun Ryan and it is clear that he is miles off them.

I actually mentioned to my old man on the way home that I feel better about that Rd 1 performance than I did after the shaky looking Rd 1 win over the Warriors last year.

I think we have a lot more to be excited about than we do to be worried about.

[teke]

I actually mentioned to my old man on the way home that I feel better about that Rd 1 performance than I did after the shaky looking Rd 1 win over the Warriors last year.

I think we have a lot more to be excited about than we do to be worried about.

Completely agree

[Adelaide Titan]

Was there more Dragons fans there? It looked like the fan bases were evenly split tonight. I saw the away stand was PACKED with red and white...the size of a GC United home crowd

[karnage]

Just watched the replay. Didn't exactly get the rub of the green in this game either - 3 of 4 tries from kicks.