Fifita unstoppable as Titans thump Knights in Ponga's return

The Gold Coast Titans have fired in an impressive performance, with a wonderful display of entertaining footy in front of a great crowd at Cbus Super Stadium.

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The Titans won the match 42 to 16.

It was the perfect start for the home side, with co-captain Kevin Proctor crossing after just 90 seconds.

Leading 6-0, the Titans lost Phillip Sami after just six minutes with the winger taken from the field after his head collected the shoulder of Tyson Frizell.

A minute later, it was back to the positive.

Moved to the wing with Sami off the field, Patrick Herbert crossed for his first try in Titans colours.  A sharp shift to the right saw Herbert finish in the corner and Jamal Fogarty converted from the sideline.

After a strong start, Ash Taylor knocked on off the kick-off and the Knights went into attack.

Tyrone Peachey stopped their first raid with great goal line defence holding up Connor Watson over the line. The following passage saw Newcastle cross through Chris Randall to reduce the margin.

At the 17 minute mark, the co-captain’s combined to force a Newcastle error. 

Proctor chased Fogarty’s high ball, causing a Knight’s fumble.  In attack following the error, Tino Fa’asuamaleaui was pushing forward when a strip was called.  The Knights called a captain’s challenge and were successful, with the bunker deeming a dropped ball.

David Fifita injected himself in the 22nd minute, and proved how hard he is to stop close to the line.  A huge run close to the line saw the second rower barge his way over, with Fogarty’s conversion giving the Titans an 18 points to 6 lead.

Off the kick-off after the try, it was the Titans at their attacking best.  A left-hand spread saw Corey Thompson in space down the touchline, passing back in to Brian Kelly with the combo making 60 metres.  While the Knights defence held the following raid, it was still the Titans who crossed next.

Tyrone Peachey, who was in everything in the first half, hit Brian Kelly with a great pass with the centre rolling a grubber into the in-goal for Thompson to score.

At the 32nd minute mark, Fifita had a double.  He continued to get better as the game went on.

With Patrick Herbert in the bin for 10 minutes just before the break, the Titans took a 26 points to 12 lead into the half.

It looked like the Knights had the first points of the second half, with Kalyn Ponga breaking through the Titans defence and Enari Tuala finished the play. 

Given a try on field, the bunker stepped in to review while Ponga was lining up the conversion.

The video review saw the try overturned, with no evidence that the ball was grounded and some brilliant defence from Brian Kelly forcing the change.

David Fifita’s afternoon got even better.

A hat-trick of tries for Fifita came off an off-load from Jarrod Wallace to put him into space.

The Titans attack exploded in the second half.

Corey Thompson was next to score.  The winger beat 3 in an impressive run down the left edge to score.

Then, from the kickoff it was Brimson. With shades of the 2020 performance that saw Brimson explode against Newcastle, he was at it again.

A run from the fullback saw him beat Ponga, passing back inside for Patrick Herbert to score a double.