Bulldogs pile on pressure Titans boss after high-scoring affair
Canterbury have put on a show for prospective coach Cameron Ciraldo in a 36-26 NRL win over Gold Coast that also promises to intensify pressure on Titans boss Justin Holbrook.
Speculation premiership-winning Penrith assistant Ciraldo could join the Bulldogs came to a head this week when he was photographed lunching with a club sponsor.
Coaching the Bulldogs has become a much more attractive proposition now that interim coach Mick Potter has them playing the attacking brand of football that was on display in their fifth win of the season at CommBank Stadium.
Matt Burton and Josh Addo-Carr were the chief architects in Sunday’s win, which looks to have consigned Gold Coast to a battle with Wests Tigers to avoid the wooden spoon.
It has been a huge fall from grace for the Titans, who were one pass away from making the second week of the finals last year.
Gold Coast have won only three times in 2022 but need to win twice more and rely on other teams losing to finish any higher than 15th.
They have lost their past eight games to put coach Holbrook’s future at the club under the microscope.
“We just want to see more consistency over 80 minutes,” Holbrook said.
“We were probably good for 60 minutes today but in patches we made some poor decisions that cost us.”
The Titans conceded 26 points in the first half and could have been further behind had the bunker not denied three Bulldog tries.
Canterbury found it easy to break through the Titans’ brittle edges and capitalise.
“We made massive in-roads in that area last week and then we fell back a bit today. That’s something we’ve got to fix up,” said Holbrook.
Three of the Bulldogs’ four first-half tries came directly after line-breaks down the flanks and all three involved at least Burton or Addo-Carr.
Burton finished with two tries, two line breaks and a try assist, while Addo-Carr recorded his seventh career hat-trick and ran for 317 metres.
“They’re great to watch when they’re in full flight and cruising along,” Potter said.
In the most memorable try of the afternoon, Addo-Carr flirted with the off-side rule by darting from the Bulldogs’ goal line, grabbing an intercept and racing 95 metres to score.
The Titans threatened to mount a second-half comeback and looked the more dangerous side from close range.
The Bulldogs missed fullback Jake Averillo (COVID-19) as replacement Declan Casey, in just his third NRL appearance, struggled to defuse the kicking games of the young Gold Coast halves.
But Addo-Carr produced a second intercept try and re-hashed his combination with Burton down the left edge to keep the Titans at bay.
“Our execution and some of our discipline … probably leave a little bit of a sour taste in your mouth, as far as what we thought could happen and what did, but happy for a win,” said Potter.
Having placed Burton in a headlock during the State of Origin brawl, Titans captain Tino Fa’suamaleaui was met with a chorus of boos every time he touched the ball.
Bulldogs forward Corey Waddell could attract scrutiny from the match review committee for targeting him with an alleged eye gouge in the first half.
Waddell was placed on report.
Exciting young Titans fullback Jayden Campbell made his first appearance since tearing his hamstring in round 13 but played limited minutes at the request of club medical staff.
He looked confident running the ball after coming on in the 48th minute.
Comments on RugbyPass
I think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
7 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
7 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
61 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
7 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
61 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
55 Go to comments