Gold Coast have secured their first win in the NRL Telstra Women's Premiership with a 26-16 victory over the Roosters at WIN Stadium on Sunday.
Outstanding performances from captain Brittany Breayley-Nati, Evania Pelite and Destiny Brill set up the win for the Titans, who were in control for most of the contest despite the scoreboard suggesting otherwise.
The Titans raced to a 10-0 early with debutante Jasmine Peters crossing in the fourth minute before veteran Karina Brown grabbed the first NRLW try of her career following a deft grubber via Grace Griffin in-goal.
The Roosters needed to be next to hit back and did through second-gamer Leianne Tufuga, who finished off a last pass from Jess Sergis out wide.
Errors continued to creep into the Roosters' game, however, with a nasty one from the kick-off allowing the Titans to pounce on field position and score their third of the afternoon through Tazmin Gray.
Jasmine Peters opens the scoring for the Titans
Two missed opportunities from Lauren Dam brought relief for the Roosters but John Strange's side struggled to hold the ball for a consecutive week to apply any real pressure on the opposition.
A darting effort from Brittany Breayley-Nati looked to have sealed the win for the Titans but back-to-back tries to Sarah Togatuki and Olivia Kernick got the Roosters within reach late.
Breayley-Nati had the last laugh, however, to finish off a Steph Hancock offload to go over on fulltime.
This article contains content that is only available on NRL.com
Match Snapshot
- The Titans improved with their completions in the first half compared to last week, getting through over 75 percent of their sets compared to the Roosters' 57 percent.
- Karina Brown scored her first try in the NRLW since making her debut in 2018, along with Roosters forward Sarah Togatuki.
- Jasmine Peters was the sixth player to score a try on debut this season with an effort in the fourth minute for her side.
- The Roosters made five line breaks to four despite the result.
- Mya Hill-Moana was placed on report in the 64th minute for dangerous contact on Shannon Mato.
- Roosters fullback Brydie Parker (136 metres) led the way for her side.
- Titans forward Tazmin Gray finished the match with a try, 116 metres and four tackle busts.
- Brittany Breayley-Nati scored the first double of her NRLW career.
Tazmin Gray forces herself over
Play of the Game
Two superstars collided on Sunday with Evania Pelite getting one over Jessica Sergis with a strong piece of play to repel a Roosters raid.
The Tricolours were on the attack late in the first half with Isabelle Kelly putting Sergis into a gap before the centre was collected by a courageous effort from Pelite at the back.
Evania Pelite incredibly halts a charging Jessica Sergis
What they said
"We have still got a bit to work on but the girls are excited. It is a big day - the first ever victory for our NRLW Titans female team. They have sung the song, they enjoyed it and it was loud. They have been practicing it for a while and now they have got to sing it. The club has been really supportive. The girls understand the privileged position they are in, being the first team and to get that first victory is historical." - Titans coach Jamie Feeney on the significance of the win.
Brittany Breayley-Nati secures the victory for the Titans
"It's disappointing. I didn't see too much different to last week's game. We just put ourselves under pressure and had to defend a lot because of our own errors. We just made it easy for them. It was a pretty simple game plan that they had and they stuck to it and we just shot ourselves in the foot over and over again. We have got a lot of hard work to do." - Roosters coach John Strange on back-to-back losses to the NRLW's Queensland teams.
What's next
Triple-headers are done for both sides with the Roosters to host Newcastle at the SCG in a double-header alongside their male counterparts next Saturday.
The Titans will travel to Sydney for a third week to take on the Eels as part of a huge day at CommBank Stadium which features two NRLW games and the NRL season opener for Parramatta.
Leianne Tufuga gets the Roosters first try