Gold Coast Titans 16
The Gold Coast were crying foul after defending premiers St George Illawarra were awarded a controversial second-half try in their 25-16 NRL win at Skilled Park on Saturday night.
Video referee Steve Clark hit the green button after being asked to review a try to Dragons fullback Darius Boyd in the 54th minute in which Titans defenders William Zillman and Scott Prince were impeded as referee Phil Haines stumbled and fell just in front of the try line.
The decision was greeted with rousing boos and jeers by the 21,000-strong crowd as they watched replays of the incident on the big screen expecting the try to be disallowed.
It put the Dragons ahead 19-6, a lead which soon became 25-6 when Boyd scored nine minutes later off a Soward kick.
However there were claims Zillman had enough time to get around the falling referee and the try decision was correct.
A match official later said while the decision may have looked ordinary to Titans fans, it was correct under the rules of the game.
Fears the Dragons would fatigue after having recently travelled to the UK to beat Wigan in the world club final were unfounded.
In fact, the tough match had them primed and ready for the Titans, who struggled to find a way through their well-drilled slide defence.
Two of the Titans' three tries came off kicks, the first to Steve Michaels just before halftime and again in the 63rd minute when lock Ashley Harrison swooped on a Prince grubber which reduced the margin the 25-12.
Robust utility Sam Tagataese crashed over on the fulltime siren to make the score more respectable.
Soward's deft kicking game created major problems for the Titans whenever the Dragons got into the attacking red zone.
Two of his superb chip kicks resulted in tries to Ben Creagh (first half) and Boyd (second half) and he also slotted a 30-metre field goal six minutes after halftime to give the Dragons a psychological 13-6 edge before Boyd's hotly disputed try.
Wearing the same blue top as the Titans players, Dragons runner Steve Price was constantly on the field directing players.
The victory was sweet for Dragons centre Matt Scott, who was playing his 200th game after making his debut in 2000.
A Cooper strip off Prince in the 63rd minute led to Boyd's second try.
ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA 25 (D Boyd 2 B Creagh N Fien tries J Soward 4 goals J Soward 2 field goals) bt GOLD COAST 16 (A Harrison S Michaels S Tagataese tries S Prince 2 goals) at Skilled Park. Referee: Jared Maxwell, Phil Haines. Crowd: 21,709.
- AAP
