Titans double over Warriors at Mt Smart
- Dave Worsley
- Jul 26
- 2 min read
A stunning upset by the Titans as they ensure Des Hasler celebrates his 500th game as a coach in grand style.
Jayden Campbell and Kieran Foran dominated all day and steered their team around superbly as they completed 40 of 43 sets
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The Warriors actually scored first through Adam Pompey in the fourth minute, but then found themselves exposed defensively at times and didn't seem to gel as they would have wanted.
The Titans had 11 players who ran for more than 100 metres with winger Phil Sami with 27 runs for 260 metres leading the way. AJ Brimson ran for 180 metres while Brian Kelly and Jojo Fifita had 14 tackle busts between them. Moe Fotuaika was immense in the middle with 161 run metres.
There were doubles for the Titans to Dunedin-born Fifita with tries in each half and also to Sami as well as the visitors came from 10-0 down to score just their fifth win of the season.
Charnze Nicol-Klokstad and Roger Tuivasa-Shek were arguably the best of the beaten Warriors. Fullback Nicoll-Klokstad had 26 runs for 214 metres and wing Roger Tuivasa-Sheck 26 runs for 278 metres and a try in the 62nd minute.
Meanwhile the Titans also won the NRLW game was well as NZ Warriors slumped to their third defeat in four appearances beaten 20-10.
Aiming to build on their first-ever home win two weeks ago, the wahine dug a deep hole for themselves, allowing their rivals to score three early tries.
The result sees the Titans climb to 2-2 for the season, while the Warriors drop to 1-3 following back-to-back defeats.
There were bright spots for the hosts as Apii Nicholls worked tirelessly at the back and Takimoana impressed again out wide, but it wasn’t enough to match the Titans' intensity.
All eyes now turn to Magic Round in Newcastle next weekend, where the Warriors face the Cowboys
NRL: Gold Coast Titans 24 (Jojo Fifita 2 Phillip Sami 2 tries; Jayden Campbell 2 con, pen) Warriors 16 (Adam Pompey Leka Halasima, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck tries; Tanah Boyd 2 con) HT: 10-12..
NRLW: Gold Coast Titans 20 (Lily Patston, Georgia Grey, Lily-Rose Kolc, Jaime Chapman tries; Lauren Brown 2 con) Warriors 10 (Payton Takimoana, Metanoia Fotu-Moala tries; Patricia Maliepo con). HT: 4-14