Gold Coast Titans winger Anthony Don’s hat-trick of tries helped the Titans to a 20-10 victory over the St George Illawarra Dragons at CBus Super Stadium to keep alive their faint hopes of making the top eight.
The Titans came into the game with Max King replacing England international Chris McQueen at loose forward with Nathaniel Peteru coming onto the bench.
The Dragons made one change, with Blake Laurie making his debut replacing Jacob Host on the bench.
Don touched down twice in the first half, with one of his efforts a spectacular one-handed catch of a bomb to the corner by Ashley Taylor while he was being tackled by Dragons winger Jason Nightingale.
Tyrone Roberts converted one of Don’s tries while adding two penalties. Taylor also added a late penalty to seal the victory.
The Dragons were able to score just one second-half try by winger Kurt Mann, with Gareth Widdop adding the conversion after having kicked two first-half penalties.
Titans: 1 Jarryd Hayne, 2 Anthony Don, 3 Dale Copley, 4 Konrad Hurrell, 5 Will Zillman, 6 Tyrone Roberts, 7 Ashley Taylor, 8 Jarrod Wallace, 9 Nathan Peats, 10 Ryan James (c), 11 Kevin Proctor, 12 Joe Greenwood, 16 Max King; Interchange: 14 Pat Politoni, 15 Morgan Boyle, 17 Agnatius Paasi, 19 Nathaniel Peteru
Dragons: 1 Josh Dugan, 2 Nene Macdonald, 3 Euan Aitken, 4 Tim Lafai, 5 Jason Nightingale, 6 Gareth Widdop (c), 7 Kurt Mann, 8 Russell Packer, 9 Cameron McInnes, 10 Leeson Ah Mau, 11 Tyson Frizell, 12 Joel Thompson, 13 Jack de Belin; Interchange: 14 Tariq Sims, 16 Hame Sele, 17 Josh McCrone, 18 Blake Laurie.
Full coverage of all the weekend’s NRL action can be found in Monday’s edition of League Express, available in the shops and online.
