Fotuaika sent off as Warriors hold out spirited Titans

The Warriors have continued their charge to the finals after overcoming a tenacious 12-man Titans side 28-18 on Friday night.

The Titans were spirited in their defeat after prop Moeaki Fotuaika was sent off early, with a long-range Jayden Campbell try bringing the game down to the wire until the Warriors rallied late to make it four straight on the Gold Coast.

No points were scored in the opening 20 minutes of the clash but there was plenty of drama with Titans forward Chris Randall (high tackle) was placed on report before Fotuaika was sent off for a similiar tackle on Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad.

Warriors backrower Marata Niukore was next to be sent from the field with all three incidents occurring within 10 minutes of play.

Having already reshuffled their backline after fullback AJ Brimson (rib) was a late withdrawal after failing to get through the warm-up, the Titans were forced to 12 for the final 62 minutes of the match when Fotuaika's night ended prematurely.

But it was when Niukore was in the bin and both teams were down a man that the home side opened the scoring when backrower David Fifita exploded out of dummy half from close range for his seventh try of the season.

The Warriors soon bounced back though with back-to-back tries through halfback Shaun Johnson, who quickly took things into his own hands to help the Warriors to a 12-6 lead.

Johnson used his footwork to bag the first but has winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak to thank for the second with a superb offload to his teammate on the right edge.

Watene-Zelezniak looked to extend the lead just before halftime when he raced over in the right corner but the try was called back from the NRL Bunker for obstruction.

The Warriors went further ahead early in the second half through Jackson Ford thanks to some nice lead up work from Johnson and when he slotted the conversion the visitors were out to an 18-6 lead.

The Titans needed to find some momentum and it was Jayden Campbell who stamped his class on the game with a deft kick in-goal, pounced on by charging second rower Joe Stimson to score. 

Campbell had the Titans faithful on their feet again in the 63rd minute when he intercepted a Ford pass before running and sprinted 90 metres to lock the scores 18-18 in an unlikely scoreline given the circumstances earlier.

With the game in the balance it was Warriors skipper Tohu Harris who put the visitors back in the lead, crashing over from close range and breaking a 24-game try drought after some nice lead-up work from Wayde Egan.

The Warriors put the icing on the cake in the 76th minute thanks to a Watene-Zelezniak put-down after Johnson orchestrated a kick on the last tackle.

The Warriors win keeps them in the top four while the Titans are now languishing in 13th with a finals spot unlikely. 

Original article by NRL.com

Author: 
NRL.com