Titans the clear challengers as Roosters march on
Joel Gould and Scott Bailey |
Gold Coast are on track for a vital top-two NRLW finish after securing their eighth consecutive win, with a 26-20 defeat of Canberra.
On a day where the Sydney Roosters remained unbeaten with a ninth-straight win, the Titans showed why they appear to be the Tricolours’ biggest challengers this year.
Gold Coast captain Georgia Hale celebrated her 50th game for the club in style at Robina on Saturday as her side stayed in second position on the ladder.
Strike centre Jaime Chapman missed the match with a calf injury, but the Titans, who led 18-6 at halftime, had too much firepower for the visitors.
Raiders winger Mackenzie Wiki’s second-half hat-trick took her season tally to nine, but the damage had already been done by the home side.
Canberra’s three-game winning streak came to and end, but they are still on track for their maiden finals berth.
The Raiders opened the scoring with a beautifully worked try. Half Zahara Temara’s pinpoint bomb was snaffled with a soaring leap by centre Isabella Waterman, whose offload presented winger Elise Simpson with her eighth try of the season.
Titans centre Phoenix-Raine Hippi sliced through from a scrum play to get them on the board.
Half Lauren Brown’s audacious tip-on worked wonders when it was swooped upon by winger Destiny Mino-Sinapati, who still had plenty to do before crashing over out wide.
Lock Sienna Lofipo has all the skills and her weaving run set up barnstorming second-rower Ivania Lolesio, before elite finishing by winger Georgia Grey on the cusp of the break gave the Titans their fourth try.
Grey made it a double after halftime with another slick finish.
Brown’s game sense came to the fore again when her floating pass sent Mino-Sinapati over for her second try to put the result beyond doubt.
The Roosters then marched to a 36-8 win over Cronulla, keeping them two points clear of the Gold Coast at the top of the ladder.
With the Sharks having claimed only one win all year, they did well to stick with the Roosters and claw it back to 12-4 late in the first half.
But a 70-metre runaway try to Brydie Parker, off a Sharks error a moment before the break, proved decisive and killed off any real hope for Cronulla.
The Roosters winger then backed it up with another try straight after halftime from a Taina Naividi bust, as the Roosters took complete control.
Parker also pulled off a try-saver on Tiana Peniani Gray in the first half, before breaking down the right wing and sending Jess Sergis over for one of her two late four-pointers.
AAP