Titans 28
Warriors 12
The Broncos' try-scoring machine Israel Folau and their power centre Justin Hodges missed the game against the Eels at Parramatta yesterday through injury and the Warriors will hope that the pair do not recover during the short turnaround to their clash in Brisbane on Friday night.
Warriors five-eighth Lance Hohaia has shin damage after their miserable loss to the Gold Coast Titans on Saturday night but is expected to be okay for the second game of the Queensland trip and there were no immediate injury concerns about others.
This is all but the last chance for the Auckland side to resurrect their fortunes - even with a win here and several others to follow in the nine games to the end of the season they will need other results to fall their way to make the playoffs.
There was no sign that might happen on Saturday as they slumped to a severely weakened Titans side. They stayed near-equal in terms of completion rate and possession, tackles made and missed. But, as usual this season, there were critical errors at crucial stages of the game, early in the tackle count and at the wrong end of the field. And, as usual, there was no initiative in the attack once they had forced their way into good offensive position.
First Hohaia and then Stacey Jones offered intercepts close to the opposition goal-line and the rookie Titans wings Kevin Gordon and David Mead, with just 14 top-level games between them, outpaced the chasers.
Warriors coach Ivan Cleary called the first intercept by 21-year-old Papua New Guinea rep Mead, which took them out to a 16-2 lead, "a gift", and labelled the second by 19-year-old Gordon as "a good read, a big play".
"If it goes where you want it to go, we score," Hohaia said afterwards, "if it doesn't, they score. It was disheartening ... if they hadn't scored those points it may have been different."
It was poor attack though, more than those blunders, that decided the game - pushed passes which produced mistakes that put them under pressure, wrong options or lack of them when at the Titans' end.
"Our execution was pretty bad," Cleary admitted. The attack had issues, they were "out-finessed".
His opposite John Cartwright said he had faith in the new wings, Mead coming in late after Chris Walker suffered a migraine before the game. "Their tries were no flukes, they work hard at it at training."
It was the Titans' seventh win from seven at Skilled Park this year and it came despite them missing five key players through injury - co-captain and Origin prop Luke Bailey, dual international Mat Rogers, Queensland Origin lock Ashley Harrison, Country Origin secondrower Mark Minichiello and former Queensland wing Walker. They look real finals contenders.
On Friday, the Broncos may be without Folau, who has a sternum injury, and Hodges, knee, and there could be midweek distraction with rumour their former Kangaroos and Queensland fullback Karmichael Hunt is about to sign a lucrative deal to switch to rugby union.
Folau's withdrawal would give another opportunity to Dale Copley, 17, who filled in for him yesterday and in the loss to the Sharks the week before when on debut.
Tigers utility John Morris has signed with the Sharks for two years from next season.
The Warriors Juniors continue their march up the ladder of the under-20s Toyota Cup competition after a 32-10 demolition of their Titans opposites on the Gold Coast, a second confidence-boosting away win.
They scored early and had four tries on the scoreboard by halftime, wing Thomas Ah Van's tally now 10 from 12 games and centre Bill Tupou scoring his 11th from 13 matches.
And they kept the locals scoreless through the second 40 minutes, prop Russell Packer nabbing one of three second-half touchdowns. The Juniors are now just outside the top-four.
