Dragons hold off Titans at windy WIN

The contest could not have started on a stronger note for the visitors with Keano Kini slicing into the backfield off his opening kick return and handing the ball off to Jojo Fifita to draw first blood with Jayden Campbell’s conversion making it 6-0.

The Dragons came up with a crucial defensive stop soon after to pave the path for Christian Tuipulotu to answer for the hosts after Tyrell Sloan produced a magnificent tap-on to his winger off some Luciano Leilua ball-playing.

An unorthodox, corresponding kick-off bounced fortuitously into the arms of Leilua who motored down the left flank and pushed away from a collection of defenders as the Red V surged straight back onto the attack.

Ben Hunt dummied and slid through the line to dive over behind the sticks several plays later and earn the Dragons their first lead of the encounter.

Zac Lomax threatened to add to the lead off a Hunt high ball only for his aerial attempt to come up short before David Fifita was placed on report for a high shot on Jack de Belin a quarter of the way in.

The Dragons were gifted another attacking opportunity short of the half-hour mark with Hunt holding it up on a right-side shift and floating a ball out the way of Lomax who dove over untouched in the northeast corner.

Tyrell Sloan showed off some nice athleticism moments later to pinch a Titans kick-for-touch out of the air and put the Dragons back on the attack with de Belin dragged down just short of the line on the fifth tackle.

Jacob Liddle and Toby Couchman combined to lay on the Dragons’ fourth try of the afternoon with the No.9 scooting into the backfield off a quick play-the-ball from near half-way and finding a supporting Couchman who shrugged away from the cover and slid his way over the line underneath the sticks.

Lomax knocked the conversion over from in front to make it 20-6 and join Jamie Soward and Gareth Widdop as the only players in club history to surpass the 800-point mark.

A tremendous Dragons defensive effort dragged Kini back in-goal to earn the side another opportunity in favourable field position with Ryan Couchman this time showing off some attacking flair of his own sending Leilua over the stripe with a crafty offload to give the hosts a 26-6 edge heading into the break.

Jayden Campbell dropped the ball onto his foot and regathered it in bizarre fashion to score the visitors’ second early in the second half and cut the deficit back to 14.

The Dragons lost de Belin for 10 minutes with a little under half an hour remaining after video officials ruled that he had collected Foran high.

With the Dragons down a man, Kini slipped again into the backfield only for Sloan to pull off a textbook try-saver on his opposite number.

The hosts fired in a successful challenge after the on-field officials ruled a Lomax knock-on with replays showing that Brian Kelly had collected the Dragons winger high.

The Titans lodged a successful challenge of their own moments later to secure another attacking opportunity with Fifita grabbing his second off it thanks to a looping Foran ball.

King-Togia was thrusted into the action with a little under 10 minutes to go for his first taste of the NRL with the teenager making an instant impact as a kick chaser.

The Dragons were able to seal the victory in the final stages with Francis Molo burrowing his way over out of dummy-half for his first try of 2024 in what was the side’s first foray into Titans territory after half-time.

The victory sees the side grab a vital pair of competition points and jump back into eighth spot on the competition ladder with three rounds to play.