Disgruntled superstars, French rugby union and Hollywood millionaires seemed a million miles away as a sea of orange and black packed Leichhardt Oval to watch the Wests Tigers hang on for a nail-biting 20-18 NRL win over Gold Coast yesterday.

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A crowd of 17,493 packed the Tigers’ traditional home, creating an atmosphere that had the players turning on an inspired, and at times fiery, match.

“We owed the crowd today after the last game here against Souths (a 37-12 loss last year) was pretty average so we owed the local people a bit today,” Tigers coach Tim Sheens said.

The Tigers came out firing and led 14-6 at halftime, but they had to withstand plenty of second half pressure from the Titans before hanging on for the win after both sides had scored three tries.

“We didn’t let the Leichhardt thing try to win us the game, we came out to win it ourselves and we had a really strong first half,” said Sheens, who also revealed several of his players had come down with he flu during the week.

Skipper Brett Hodgson latched onto a perfect inside ball from halfback Mathew Head in the 58th minute and the fullback’s conversion made it 20-6.

But Titans tries to Brenton Bowen in the 68th minute and Preston Campbell in the 72nd got Gold Coast back to 20-18 and a thriller was on the cards.

The Tigers kept the Coast to their own end of the park in the final minutes and, as they threatened to break away with two minutes left, the Titans were pulled up for a forward pass, much to the relief of the vocal crowd.

Titans co-captain Scott Prince was booed roundly on his return to Leichhardt for the first time since quitting the Tigers in 2006.

“It’s expected, they did the same at Campbelltown,” Prince said.

“It’s the beauty about our game I guess. It’s a great Oval to play at with or without the Tigers.”
The atmosphere certainly had the players fired up.

Tigers prop Bryce Gibbs and Titans hooker Nathan Friend were both sin-binned for being third and fourth men in when the game erupted in the 27th minute.

Corey Payne had given Mat Rogers some extra attention in a tackle before Friend ran in to assist his teammate and then Gibbs got involved as players ran from everywhere.

In the 37th minute, Head lay motionless after a hit off the ball which resulted in Gold Coast centre Luke O’Dwyer going on report.

The crowd’s involvement probably also had the Tigers wondering why they play at the cavernous ANZ Stadium for most of the season.

“It definitely gave us a lift,” Hodgson said.

“At times when you’re struggling for a bit of breath and you hear the crowd revving you on it definitely gives you that lift.”
Titans coach John Cartwright said his side had continued on from last week’s lack of intensity in their narrow win over the Bulldogs, but he did pay tribute to livewire fullback Campbell who got his side back into it with a superb individual try.

“He’s fantastic, Presto, you just want to take him home and give him a cuddle, don’t you?” Cartwright said.

Tigers second-rower Ben Te’o opened the scoring in just the seventh minute when he was on hand to pluck a pinpoint Benji Marshall cross-field chip and the Tigers led 6-0.

The home side led 12-0 after 14 minutes when Farah dived over from dummy-half.

The Titans hit back in the 21st when Prince laid on a try under the posts for interchange forward Aaron Cannings for 12-6 before a Hodgson penalty goal gave the home side their halftime lead.

Snapshot of round 11 of the NRL

THEY SAID IT: “We’re as happy as you can be after losing a game because we came to Bluetongue Stadium tonight to get some pride back in our performance, to get some pride back in the jersey, the great jersey that we play in and the boys did that well.” – South Sydney coach JASON TAYLOR after the Rabbitohs’ 15-10 loss to Melbourne on Saturday.

STAT THAT MATTERS: 168m, 28 tackles, 15 hit-ups. Test prop BRENT KITE’S reminder to NSW State of Origin selectors after BEN CROSS was ruled out of game two with a broken thumb.

MAN OF THE ROUND: Melbourne lock DALLAS JOHNSON. Plenty backed up from Origin I but Johnson did after being knocked near senseless on Wednesday night and made 38 tackles against Souths.

MAGIC MOMENT: Gold Coast’s PRESTON CAMPBELL gives his side a chance in the final minutes against the Wests Tigers, showing trademark step, speed and strength to score a superb individual try at Leichhardt Oval. “He’s fantastic, Presto, you just want to take him home and give him a cuddle, don’t you?” said his coach JOHN CARTWRIGHT.

TALKING POINT: Are the Dragons back? Come on, they’ve knocked off Gold Coast, Melbourne, the Sydney Roosters and Manly already this year.

JUDICIARY WATCH: Gold Coast’s LUKE O’DWYER for a late hit on Wests Tigers halfback MATHEW HEAD.

KEY INJURIES: Manly: Anthony Watmough (concussion). Wests Tigers: Liam Fulton (shoulder).

UNDER PRESSURE: Warriors coach IVAN CLEARY. Their away record is abysmal and now they’ve been thrashed at home.

© AAP 2012

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