Click the match link for full match details including teams, scoring details, articles and more
Fri September 3 2010, 7:30PM AEST GMT+10Fri: Brisbane Broncos 16 l. Canberra Raiders 18 at
Suncorp Stadium, Castlemaine Street, Milton, Brisbane (QLD)Crowd: 38,872
Fri September 3 2010, 7:30PM AEST GMT+10Fri: Gold Coast Titans 21 d. Wests Tigers 18 at
Skilled Park, Robina, Gold Coast (QLD)Crowd: 26,103
Sat September 4 2010, 5:30PM AEST GMT+10Sat: Parramatta Eels 12 l. New Zealand Warriors 26 at
Parramatta Stadium, Parramatta, Sydney (NSW)Crowd: 11,383
Sat September 4 2010, 7:30PM AEST GMT+10Sat: Penrith Panthers 50 d. Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks 12 at
CUA Stadium Penrith, Mulgoa Road, Penrith, Sydney (NSW)Crowd: 10,997
Sat September 4 2010, 7:30PM AEST GMT+10Sat: North Queensland Cowboys 8 l. Sydney Roosters 18 at
Dairy Farmers Stadium, Kirwan, Townsville (QLD)Crowd: 12,033
Sun September 5 2010, 2:00PM AEST GMT+10Sun: Melbourne Storm 34 d. Newcastle Knights 4 at
AAMI Park, Melbourne, VIC (AUS)Crowd: 20,517
Sun September 5 2010, 3:00PM AEST GMT+10Sun: Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles 24 l. Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 30 at
Brookvale Oval, Brookvale, Sydney (NSW)Crowd: 15,933
Sun September 5 2010, 7:00PM AEST GMT+10Sun: St George Illawarra Dragons 38 d. South Sydney Rabbitohs 24 at
Kogarah Jubilee Oval, Kogarah, Sydney (NSW)Crowd: 18,274
Sat September 4, 2010
Source: www.titans.com.auThe Jetstar Gold Coast Titans have secured a home semi-final for a second year in a row with a courageous 21-18 win over the Wests Tigers in a thrilling encounter at Skilled Park tonight.
A whopping 26,103 people turned out to witness Mat Rogers' final home-and-away game for the Titans, and he didn't disappoint landing a vital field-goal in the 29th minute to edge the Titans to a 13-0 half-time lead.
Rogers played an integral role for the Titans, stepping up to steady the Titans' ship while captain Scott Prince was sidelined with an AC joint injury in the 17th minute before returning in the second half.
The two-sides traded blows in the second half with the Tigers coming within one-point on two occasions, before a Prince penalty goal in the 77th minute secured the win and the Larry Corowa Shield.
Jetstar Titans coach John Cartwright said he was proud of the team's ability to come away with the win despite injuries.
"It was a game that we needed to win," Cartwright said.
"At most stages of that game in the second half we only had really one or two healthy men on the bench.
"Scott carried that injury right through the second half; Ashley Harrison, Brad Meyers, Steve Michaels all had game ending injuries but we had to keep them out there."
Prince said he was pleased with the gusty win in the gritty conditions.
"It was a tough game tonight, and something we expected and it certainly panned out that way," Prince said.
"It was a game where both teams had to put everything on the line and we were very happy to walk away with the two points."
The Titans got the home crowd involved early in the match with an exciting trick play from the scrum in the fifth minute when Rogers kicked ahead on the first tackle for speedster Kevin Gordon, who won the race to the ball but was unable to get across the line with it.
With the momentum and crowd behind them, the Titans took advantage of a Tigers error to open the scoring in the seventh minute when Nathan Friend threw a crafty short ball for Ashley Harrison to go in next to the posts.
Prince converted to hand the Titans an early 6-0 lead.
The Titans extended their lead in the 11th minute when a Greg Bird offload put fullback William Zillman in a gap to score next the posts, Prince converted to give the Titans an early 12-0 lead.
With Prince succumbing to an AC joint injury in the 17th minute the Titans were forced into re-shuffling their halves with Rogers moving into halfback and Bird to five-eighth.
With the rain setting in and the errors creeping up, it was the cool head of Rogers who plotted a smart field-goal in the 29th minute to extend the Titans lead beyond two converted tries to take a 13-0 lead into the half-time break.
It was good news for the Titans, with Prince returning to the field after the half-time break.
But it was the visitors who posted first points of the half in the 46th minute after Robbie Farah threw a lovely inside ball to put lock Chris Heighington in next to the posts, and with Benji Marshall converting the Titans lead was reduced to 13-6.
The Tigers posted more points in the return set with a converted try after Farah made a bust up the middle before passing to Lote Tuquiri to score untouched under the posts to narrow the Titans lead back to 13-12.
The Titans then hit-back in the 58th minute after a quick play-the-ball created an overlap on the blindside and Prince capitalised to throw a beautiful cut-out ball to Gordon, who accelerated down the side-line before crushing over two defenders to score in the corner.
Prince landed the crucial kick from the side-line to hand the Titans a 19-12 lead.
The luck turned in the Tigers favour in the 63rd minute after a Farah grubber kick bounced out of Friend's hands and bounced up for Tigers' English import Gareth Ellis to scoop up and score under the posts to hand Marshal an easy conversion to bring the Titans lead back to 19-18.
The arm-wrestle continued between the two sides before a high shot from Robert Lui on Bird in the 77th minute handed the Titans a penalty in front of the goals, and Prince converted to give the Titans a 21-18 lead.
It was set to be an exciting finish to the game with the Tigers getting one final crack at the Titans with under a minute to go, but the Titans held their nerve to take the 21-18 win, despite a bit of 'friendly banter' after the full-time siren.
The win puts the Titans to third on the ladder, but a Penrith win could push them back to fourth, but either way would result in a home-semi against the Warriors, Roosters or Eagles.
Injury concerns to Prince (AC joint), Michaels (shoulder), Harrison (nose), and Meyers (ribs) were the injury concerns coming out of the win, but the team will be aided by the return of livewire Preston Campbell for next weeks match.
Gold Coast Titans 21 (A Harrison, W Zillman, K Gordon; S Prince 4 conversions; M Rogers field-goal) defeated Wests Tigers 18 (C Heighington, L Tuqiri, G Ellis; B Marshall 3 conversions).
Wed September 1, 2010
IF the Queensland Rugby League continues to block the Independent Commission, News Limited has an ace up its sleeve. An endgame.
It will simply give the 16 NRL clubs its share of the game for nothing - and let them overthrow the ARL administration. That's what I've been told. With all the players contracted to the clubs, it would be a very short battle for control of the game in Australia.
It's something the ARL board should bear in mind when it meets tomorrow to continue discussions. Thankfully, we have read in the last couple of the days, it looks like News won't be forced to enact such a dramatic and divisive manoeuvre.
The Sydney Morning Herald today reports that the identity of some commissioners could be known as soon as next week and that we are on track for a November 1 handover.
With television negotiations to begin in the summer and expansion bidders waiting in the wings to learn their fate for 2013, we really can't afford to wait any longer.
----------
THE decision to show Gold Coast-Wests Tigers into NSW this Friday raises plenty of questions about our future television deals.
The Brisbane-Canberra game is sudden death and Broncos have not missed the finals since 1991. The only real interest in Titans-Tigers is whether Gold Coast can get a home final - and why Sydney audiences would be particularly obsessed with that, I'm not sure.
Some people say if we want a lot of money from television networks, we have to be prepared to give them what they want.
TV companies and sporting organisations clearly have conflicting objectives.
As a sporting competition we want to spread our game nationally and give all clubs more or less equal exposure for their sponsors.
Television networks want to maximise ratings and make money.
Now, if we were paying them to show rugby league, then it is fair enough for them to get their way. But they are paying us!
We have the whip hand.
If they want to show rugby league, they should do as they are told - more or less. A way of further lessening their power and increasing our leverage is to split up the rights. In the NRL's new TV deal, either that will happen or Seven will get exclusive free-to-air.
----------
THE Ryan Tandy affair has now been handed over to police.
Regular readers of this column would well realise my thoughts on gambling and rugby league. Things will get much, much worse in professional sports before they get better - just look at the cricket.
And gawd-knows-what sort of things are happening out there in the world of semi-professional sports, where there isn't the same media scrutiny and the players earn much less.
There will be a premiership tainted by betting scandals in our lifetimes, folks.
----------
CONGRATULATIONS to Tas Baitieri's son, Jason, who has signed a two-year contract with Catalans.
The Sydney Roosters rookie will hopefully find himself in the French national team soon. And with his pedigree, let's hope it's unlikely he makes the next step down a well-worn path - rugby union!
stevemascord@hotmail.com
Round 26
Gold Coast Titans 21 d. Wests Tigers 18
rleague UK Edition
rleague RSS Feed