A Mat Rogers field goal in the final minute of golden point extra time may have saved the Gold Coast's NRL premiership hopes as the Titans pipped St George Illawarra 11-10 at WIN Jubilee Oval last night. Staring down the barrel of dropping out of the top eight, Rogers popped out of dummy half from 10 metres out and knocked over the one-point with just 50 seconds on the clock to keep the Titans well in finals contention.
It was a gutsy win for the Titans minus representative pair Greg Bird and Ashley Harrison. The Dragons have now lost all four of their golden point games as they missed a prime opportunity to move a step closer to securing the minor premiership. The first half, played in constant drizzle, was punctuated by a series of dubious calls from the video referee, with both sides awarded questionable four-pointers before Matt Cooper was denied what appeared a fair effort just before the break.
Anthony Laffranchi, the Titans back-rower, came up short when he swivelled out of three tacklers and reached out for the line, but the video referee ruled in his favour when the ball was propelled into the in-goal thanks to contact from the leg of tackler Jeremy Smith. If the Dragons fans were scratching their heads they were soon applauding the official when Ben Creagh was awarded a try despite appearing to bounce the ball.
Jarryd Hayne's brilliance reached a new level as the Parramatta Eels five-eighth blew Canterbury off the park at ANZ Stadium. Hayne dominated to stun the crowd of 34,662 as the Eels notched a 32-16 win. He scored two tries in the first six minutes, one in the first set of the match, and had a hand in two more as the Eels raced out to a 28-4 half-time lead. To top it off, he produced one of the try saves of the season to stop David Stagg in the 67th minute with a desperate tackle.
* Agencies
