New Zealand Warriors Conquer Gold Coast
July 8th 2012 03:04
Friend Against Friend
After a minutes silence to honour David Meads father who passed away on the previous Tuesday, an understrength Titans outfit took the field minus forwards Luke Bailey, Ashley Harrison, Greg Bird and Nate Myles.
Another feature of this round 18 match was the clash of the hookers, with Gold Coast Titans Matt Srama opposing his old mentor and friend Nathan Friend. Nathan Friend was the Titans hooker for three seasons before moving to the New Zealand Warriors.
Warriors scored a try in their opening set of six through Tongan rookie Konrad Hurrel. Warriors kicker James Maloney missed a simple conversion to the amusement of the crowd of 17,134 fans.
When Titans Beau Champion scored off a sweet Aidan Sezer pass in the 12th minute, the Titans gained momentum.
Jamal Idris took an intercept in the 15th minute and charged downfield to link up with Kevin Gordon who scored out wide. Scott Prince’s successful conversion brought the score to 10 – 4 in favour of the Titans. It was Prince’s only goal from three attempts.
Another bullet pass from Aidan Sezer put David Mead across the try line in the 21st minute to make the score 14 – 4. David’s father would have been proud of him.
New Zealands Shaun Johnson dummied and scored under the posts in the 29th minute and the conversion brought the score to 14-10. The cheer when the Warriors had the ball was louder than that of the outnumbered Titans fans.
Just before half time, Hurrel used his one hundred kilos to muscle his way over the line to score his second try. The successful conversion put the warriors in the lead for the first time 16-14.
Hurrel scored his third try shortly after the second half began, giving the Warriors a 20-10 lead.
The Titans poor completion rate gave the Warriors plenty of opportunity and in the 60th minute Ben Matulino crashed across the try line.
It was game over in the 77th minute when Warriors fullback Kevin Locke ran 40 metres, sidestepping the Titans fullback to score under the posts. The loss ends a string of home wins for the Titans at Skilled Park and drops them two places to twelfth on the NRL ladder.
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