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Titans defeat New Zealand 32-28

25th April, 2015
3

Coach Neil Henry has praised what he called a brave defensive display after the Gold Coast held out a late Warriors comeback to continue their NRL momentum.

Impressive rookie halfback Kane Elgey grabbed a double as the Titans closed out a 32-28 Anzac Day victory in Auckland.

The result made it four wins in five matches for the Titans, who cracked 30 points for the third successive week, and it also snapped the Queenslanders’ eight-game losing steak against the Warriors.

The visitors, who produced plenty of expansive play, took control in the second half with four unanswered tries — to Kierran Moseley, James Roberts, Elgey and dominant second rower Ryan James.

Roberts, the season’s leading tryscorer, took his tally to nine in eight matches.

Henry admitted to some nervous moments as Solomone Kata and Bodene Thompson dotted down to get the Warriors within sight of victory with two minutes to go.

“It was a pretty brave performance,” he said.

“There were parts of the second half when we defended our line really well.”

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Henry said that set the Titans up for their late effort in repelling the Warriors’ final push.

“We had to hang in and really put a couple of good sets together, a couple of desperate sets, at the back end of the game,” he said.

“That’s another experience for us, to be able to shut out a game and we’ll put that in the memory back for later.”

The win could come at a cost, with lock Greg Bird put on report early in the second half for a high shot on NSW Origin teammate Ryan Hoffman, who was helped off the field.

Warriors coach Andrew McFadden lamented his side’s own defensive frailties as they failed to take advantage of an 18-12 halftime lead.

“We scored 28 points and that should be enough at home,” he said.

“It’s our defence we need to focus on at the moment.

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“We’re leaking too many points, easy points, and when you leak easy points, the opposition feel that.”

Apart from Hoffman, the Warriors also lost prop Jacob Lillyman to a knee injury.

McFadden said having the pair go off did have an impact in the second spell.

“We lacked a bit of energy and you throw a bit more adversity in there and we really fell away,” he said.

“They put on some points pretty quickly and that hasn’t been typical of our performances.”

The match ended with a further injury concern for the Warriors, with David Fusitu’a being carried off in a medicab after a tackle by James with eight minutes to go.

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