The Gold Coast Titans Gold Training under-20s have suffered a hard-fought 34-16 defeat to the Sydney Roosters at Cbus Super Stadium tonight.
The young Titans opened the scoring with an early try but four unanswered Roosters’ tries resulted in the home side trailing 22-4 before a Phillip Sami first-half double reduced the half-time deficit back to 22-12.
The Titans got within a converted try with just over half-an-hour remaining but the Roosters composed their game to keep the Titans at bay before producing two late tries to secure the two competition points with the 34-16 victory.
The young Titans opened the scoring in the third minute through lock Morgan Boyle to give the Titans a narrow 4-0 lead.
But it was all downhill from there for the Titans with the Roosters receiving a mountain of possession to score four tries in 20 minutes through Nat Butcher, Bernard Lewis, Kiah Cooper and Grant Garvey to shoot out to a 22-4 lead with 10 minutes remaining in the half.
But with the possession and momentum evening out, the Titans took advantage of their opportunities in the dying minutes of the half with Phillip Sami grabbing a double on the right edge to reduce the half-time deficit back to 22-12.
The Titans opened the scoring in the second-half with a crafty backline play resulting in Tyronne Roberts-Davis cross in the corer to reduce the deficit back to 22-16 with 30 minutes remaining.
The Roosters extended their lead in the 64th minute after a Joseph Manu chip-and-chase scrambled the Titans defence leading to Butcher slicing through to score his second try under the posts to give Jess Marschke an easy conversion to give the Roosters a 28-16 lead.
The Roosters finished the game in style with second-rower Ryan King barging his way across to give his side the 34-16 victory.
The young Titans will look to hit-back next week when they take on the Penrith Panthers at Pepper Stadium
Sydney Roosters 34 (N Butcher 2, B Lewis, K Cooper, G Garvey, R King tries; J Nikorima 3, J Marschke 2 goals) defeated Gold Coast Titans 16 (P Sami 2, M Boyle, T Roberts-Davis tries)
