Titans topple Broncos

A PHILLIP Sami hat-trick and some inspired Gold Coast defence helped the Titans snap their horror run against big brother Brisbane in a 26-14 win at Suncorp Stadium last night.

The upset stopped a run of seven Broncos wins over the Titans and 11 at Suncorp Stadium, with the Titans’ last victory there coming in 2007.

After the Titans’ right edge was shamelessly exposed in a nine-try 54-8 romp by St George Illawarra last Sunday, the Titans made a defensive statement last night and ran riot down the left against the flat-looking Broncos.

Earlier, St George-Illawarra went undefeated over the first month of the NRL for the first time in the merged club’s history, after beating Newcastle 30-12 at WIN Stadium.

Easily the best attacking team over the opening month of the competition with Ben Hunt and Gareth Widdop at the helm, the Dragons laid on five tries to continue on their merry way yesterday.

The victory took the Dragons’ attacking aggregate to 138 for the season, at an average of 34 points per game, to keep them at the top of the ladder ahead of the similarly undefeated Warriors.

Hunt and Widdop were again magnificent in attack, linking directly twice for two tries in four minutes in the first half to take control of the match. Newcastle also lost centre Tautau Moga to a knee injury.

GOLD COAST 26 (Sami 3, Copley, Don tries, Gordon 3 goals) defeated BRISBANE 14 (McCullough, Nikorima tries, Isaako 3 goals) at Suncorp Stadium. Crowd: 30,742. ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA 30 (MacDonald 2, Ah Mau, Aitken, Sims tries, Widdop 5 goals) defeated NEWCASTLE 12 (Heighington, Moga tries, Ponga 2 goals) at WIN Stadium. Crowd: 18,589.