Title favourites bring NT down to earth

THE Territory could not back up a promising first performance at the rugby league Combined Affiliated States Championships in Adelaide yesterday as they lost to Western Australia 32-0.

The tournament favourites were too classy for the Titans, who were confident after they steamrolled Victoria by 20 points on Friday.

Coach George Brown said his side got off to a relatively good start, before they got punished for not dominating the ruck.

“One thing we suffered from was not getting our peel from the ruck. We didn’t get our order right and that had a knock-on affect for our guys not being able to get back, reload and get up with line speed,” Brown said.

Western Australia went 14-0 ahead midway through the first stanza.

The crucial blow came just a minute before halftime when they scored again to take the margin out to 20 at the break.

The Titans were unable to stamp their authority on the contest, with errors and penalties limiting their pointscoring opportunities.

The NT play their final match against South Australia today and Brown said it was crucial his side finished the competition on a positive note.

“The big thing we have to remember is the job is not done yet, we still have one more day to compete and it’s an opportunity for us to come away with some success,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Territory women went down to Victoria 42-4.

Coach Yo Morris said the scoreline did not reflect the competitiveness of the match.

“I’m proud of them they stuck to the game plan. They have played very well over the last two days, the Victorian girls just had too much strength for them,” she said.