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
wel the crusaders were beaten by a queensland reds side that hadnt beaten them at home since 1999 and queensland reds partied like it was 1999
4 Go to commentsHard to disagree with the 5 points - with the exception that Wilson should be a squad member but, depending on the other loose forward selections, is not yet a shoo-in. McReight is. Aussie is looking a lot better this year and JS has some selection options. Also, Havili’s tendency to get caught, charged down is also a liability at times but he seemed focused (mostly) and is definitely a consideration for utility back-up. Still feel Reihana is a better prospect at 1st five for Saders.
4 Go to commentsYeah nah, still not sure on Havili tbh. Even though I’m a Crusaders fan through and through I’d be stunned if Razor considers him after seeing some of the stunning talent coming through up North.
4 Go to commentsThink it was a great defensive performance by Northampton. They didn't have stage fright in the first half, the Nienaber defense smothered them. They limited Leinster to 15-3 in the first half. It could have been over by then. A great try from Leinster in the start of the second half looked to have sealed it. But Byrne missed another conversion. Northampton started trying little kicks behind the Leinster wingers. Leinster messed one and Smith brilliantly made the conversion. Leinster decided to tighten the game after Byrne missed a straight forward penalty. A few errors got NH into the 22 and they scored and converted with a few minutes left. Another brilliant steal from Lawes saw NH have a final attack which was turned over by Conan. A classic semi final. World record attendance of 82,300. Leinsters 3 week preparation warranted for this one.
1 Go to commentsJust came back from the game and the atmosphere was amazing. Players stayed afterwards for more than a hour to sign stuff and take photos with fans. Great day out.
5 Go to commentsA great game. The Sharks without Etsebeth are a shadow of the team compared to when he plays. The limitations of Some of the expensive Sharks players are being exposed. Credit to Clermont for some exhilaration play at times.
5 Go to comments100% Mr Owens. But who would want to be a referee.? It must be the most difficult job on earth.
1 Go to commentsStarts to be overdone and oversold this systematic SA narrative…which nevertheless has the merit in this case to recognise blatant refereeing mistakes in their favor
5 Go to commentsNice article. Shades of Steinbeck. They can win the final if they take the game seriously; but only if they take it seriously.
5 Go to commentsWhat a sad way to end a glittering career. Somebody should tell him to delete his social media accounts and face the consequences of what he's done. Then he should slip away quietly into obscurity. This isn't likely to happen, something tells me he'll be back in The Sun / Daily Mail sooner rather than later.
5 Go to commentsguys its fine! he understands why he did what he did and has taken accountability for it; why should he have to be accountable to a court? after all he did was abuse people in person - its not as if he was engaging in _online_ abuse!
5 Go to commentsChiefs flanker Kaylum Boshier yellow-carded for collapsing the scrum as it rolled towards the line. It was a maul….
1 Go to commentsyou know, i’m a leinster fan so I want Northampton to lose and it is gonna be tuff with Cortney lawes, Alex michell and the other guys🏉 lets go leinster🏉
1 Go to commentsWelcome to the Pro ranks. Those hard teams of old do hit the sole better though. its a dog fight at the top.
6 Go to commentsCan someone fill me in please, I've read a number of Ben Smith articles now and it seems he's got something again South Africa? Surely, this game was over and done with 7 months ago. Can't we have something a bit more interesting and relevant, or is this the calibre of journalist on this site?
238 Go to commentsNot sure what the Welsh are moaning about. They’ve had far more players off England, than England have had off Wales. Guys like Josh Hathaway and Kane James will play for Wales in the end. And they’ll be fsr better players for having played in the Gallagher Premiership, than they ever would have been had they stayed mired in the shambles that is Welsh rugby.
4 Go to commentsThis is all being blown totally out of proportion. First of all, since half the Irish team isn’t Irish - it’s very likely that none of the Irish players said that at all and, thus, we’re not being arrogant. Second, since half the Irish team is Kiwi - it’s very likely the Kiwi players were predicting a NZ SA World Cup final. Which they got spot on. Good on them!
163 Go to commentsAha. An Irishman with logic! Follow the flow: - Ireland peaks with a >80% win record between 2020 and 2023. And then… - crashes out of another QF at the WC; - Beat a poor French Team; - Beat 6N wooden spoonists Italy; - Play shite against eventual wooden spoonists Wales; - Lose against the most boring, “the worst English team ever” , a team widely regarded as unable to attack; - scrape through against Scotland. This article, No - Trimble, is on the money! Except for one glaring statement: _The Springboks have a few aces in the hole in this debate being the reigning world champions and official world number ones_ There is no debate, boys and girls. There it is. In black and white. “Reigning World Champions and OFFICIAL world number ones”. Come July, the overrated Andy Farrell and this overhyped team are going to enter into a world of hurt.
90 Go to commentsI’d like to know what homoerotic events Daniel enjoyed at 8th man. I clearly missed out!
20 Go to commentsThis article is missing some detail, like some actual context or info about what led to him abusing the ref.
2 Go to comments