Cronulla Sharks edged a tight game today at CBus Super Stadium, with two field goals from Chad Townsend proving decisive to give them a 9-10 victory over the Gold Coast Titans.
The Titans took an early lead with a Michael Gordon penalty, but the Sharks replied quickly when winger Valentine Holmes went over for a try that Chad Townsend couldn’t convert.
The Sharks scored again on 33 minutes when they worked the ball to the left for Edrick Lee to dive over, but again Townsend couldn’t add the conversion. But the halfback was more successful with a field-goal attempt just before the interval to give his side a seven-point lead.
The Titans fought back early in the second half when Mitch Rein made a break and touched down, with Gordon’s conversion making it a one-point ball game.
After that the game became an arm wrestle before Ash Taylor dropped a field-goal for the Titans in the 77th minute to level the scored. But then Josh Dugan made a break to give the Sharks the opportunity for Townsend to land a final field-goal to snatch the verdict for the Sydney club.
Titans: 1 Michael Gordon, 2 Anthony Don, 3 Brendan Elliot, 4 Konrad Hurrell, 5 Phillip Sami, 6 Bryce Cartwright, 7 Ashley Taylor, 8 Jarrod Wallace, 9 Mitch Rein, 10 Ryan James (c), 11 Kevin Proctor, 12 Will Matthews, 13 Jai Arrow; Interchange: 14 Max King, 15 Jack Stockwell, 16 Keegan Hipgrave, 17 Morgan Boyle
Try: Rein; Goals: Gordon 2; Field-goal: Taylor
Sharks: 1 Josh Dugan, 2 Edrick Lee, 3 Jesse Ramien, 4 Ricky Leutele, 5 Valentine Holmes, 6 Matt Moylan, 7 Chad Townsend, 8 Andrew Fifita, , 9 Jayden Brailey, 10 Matt Prior, 11 Scott Sorensen, 18 Kurt Capewell, 13 Joseph Paulo; Interchange: 14 Jayson Bukuya, 15 James Segeyaro, 16 Avagalu Seumanufagai, 17 Kurt Dillion
Tries: Holmes, Lee; Field-goals: Townsend 2
Full match reports of all this weekend’s NRL games will feature in Monday’s League Express.
