Wests Tigers beat Titans in Golden Point

by NRL

A field goal to hooker Robbie Farah in golden point saw Wests Tigers record a 15-14 victory over the Gold Coast Titans at Skilled Park tonight in round 9 of the Telstra Premiership.

The game was sent into golden point extra time when half-back Benji Marshall kicked a penalty goal in the 79th minute to level the scores at 14-14 all after Wests Tigers trailed 14-6.

Farah then stepped up in the 82nd minute to kick a field goal from in front of the posts in their first set in extra time to snatch the two competition points from an understrengthed Titans side.

The win was the Wests Tigers' fourth this season and the third in a row heading into next week's bye.

It was also just the fourth win in 12 games for Wests Tigers since the introduction of golden point extra time. It was the Wests Tigers' second golden point win this season.

Wests Tigers Head Coach Tim Sheens made a few positional changes prior to the game. Centre Chris Lawrence moved to five-eighth with Benji Marshall shifting to half-back to replace Tom Humble who went back to interchange bench.

Blake Ayshford came off interchange bench to start at centre.

The Titans opened the scoring in the 13th minute when winger Kevin Gordon outmuscled opposite Beau Ryan to defuse a bomb from half-back Aidan Sezer to score. Sezer converted the try for a 6-0 lead.

Sezer converted a penalty goal in the 23rd minute for an 8-0 lead after prop Ray Cashmere was penalised for offside after diving on a loose ball which bounced off a Wests Tigers team-mate from a kick by Sezer.

The Titans capitalised on their wealth of possession when winger David Mead dived over in the corner in the 26th minute. The home side capitalised on a mistake by winger Lote Tuqiri who dropped the ball from a returning kick.

Sezer converted the try for a 14-0 lead after 28 minutes.

Wests Tigers got on the board when captain and hooker Robbie Farah crossed from 10 metres out after showing a dummy before slicing through two defenders to score in the 35th minute. Marshall converted the try to leave Wests Tigers trailing 14-6.

Wests Tigers were denied a try to Tuqiri in the 50th minute after the video referee ruled he was in front of centre Joel Reddy when he kicked the ball through after it bounced off the knees of Titans full-back Phil Graham.

The visitors were not denied when Farah ran acrossfield to link up with Ayshford who raced 20 metres to score out wide in the 56th minute. Marshall converted the try to leave Wests Tigers trailing 14-12.

Wests Tigers second-rower Ben Murdoch-Masila almost pulled off a miracle try for his side after he linked up with Marshall in an 80 metre run only for his body to hit the sideline in-goal in trying to score in the 77th minute.

Two minutes later, Farah was tackled off the ball by Graham 10 metres out from the Gold Coast tryline. Graham was sent to the sin-bin for 10 metres.

Marshall converted the penalty goal to make it 14-14 all in the 79th minute to send the game into golden point extra time before Farah kicked the winning field goal three minutes later.

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