It proved a disappointing afternoon for the Red V with Dean Young’s men falling to the Gold Coast Titans 38-18 at St George Venues Jubilee Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The day marked a special occasion for the club with Clint Gutherson’s 250-game milestone falling on the same day as Past Players Day.
A host of club legends were on hand to welcome Gutherson and family onto the field as “Gutho’s Hill” rose for the champion fullback.
The storybook ending didn’t come however with Young’s men left to rue 11 errors and 34 missed tackles.
The side’s right edge found itself in tatters for much of the afternoon with Jayden Campbell, Phillip Sami, and Jaylan De Groot finding joy repeatedly.
Gutherson pieced together his usual tradesman-like performance assisting on the opening try of the match and running for 171 metres whilst the Couchman twins again showcased their appetite for work combining for 111 tackles.
“I’m really disappointed,” Young said post-game.
“We had a lot to play for today… We just weren’t there right from the start. They ran harder than we tackled and tackled harder than we ran. It started there and finished there.”
A quick Daniel Atkinson 40/20 earnt the Red V an attacking chance but an ill-timed spill saw the Titans survive the raid.
It did not take long however for the Dragons to get on the board with milestone man Gutherson taking off down a very narrow short-side and crafting an awesome ball for Tyrell Sloan to dive over in the northwestern corner. Valentine Holmes nailed the extras to make it 6-0.
The Titans were able to respond quickly with Jayden Campbell and Phillip Sami linking up to send the latter streaking over in the corner before taking the lead moments later with Keano Kini bursting into space and putting Jaylan De Groot over untouched.
St George Illawarra’s right edge defensive struggles continued coming up on the half-hour mark with De Groot stepping his way through for his second to push the visitors’ lead out to double figures.
The Dragons came up with a needed answer seven minutes out from the break with Hamish Stewart running a perfect line off Gutherson to slice through into the backfield and hand the ball off a supporting Kyle Flanagan for the side’s second.
The Titans knocked over a penalty goal prior to the half to earn themselves an 18-12 advantage.
NRL Match Highlights: Round 21 vs. Titans
The visitors added another two 50 minutes in to extend their lead back beyond a converted try before they took a big step towards victory an hour in with Kini sending Oliver Pascoe over to push their edge out to 26-12.
Their dominant second half continued moments later with Campbell zipping through down the left edge and diving over untouched to make their lead an imposing one.
The Dragons were able to stop the bleeding entering the home stretch with Valentine Holmes finding his way into the backfield and throwing it back inside to Jacob Liddle to score.
The final say of the afternoon belonged to the Titans however with skipper Tino Fa’asuamaleaui falling over the line for his first try of 2026.
NRL Press Conference: Round 21 vs. Titans
