Jarryd Hayne kicks winning field goals as Wests Tigers defeated by Gold Coast Titans

JARRYD Hayne delivered on his superstar status with a matchwinning field goal to give the Gold Coast a 19-18 win against the Wests Tigers.

JARRYD Hayne fired an ominous warning declaring Campbelltown Stadium was “his house” as he kicked the match winning field goal to sink the Tigers 19-18.

The Tigers season now hangs in the balance after their one point loss, and their defeat was compounded by fears fullback James Tedesco broke his jaw. Tedesco was rushed to hospital with his season likely over after he was hit by a high tackle from Titans prop Ryan James — which went unpunished.

Tigers coach Jason Taylor said it “doesn’t look good” for his star No.1

“I don’t want to comment on that,” Taylor said of the scans. “The judiciary will look after that. It doesn’t look good. He’ll have to have scans.”

Hayne finished off a highly entertaining match.

But the match and the moment belonged to Hayne. He grew up at Minto — five kilometres from Campbelltown Stadium — and in his first run on game in his NRL return proved a match winner. And the crowd flocked with 16783 people attending – the most at the venue since 2011.

Having watched on as teammate Ash Taylor missed two field goal attempts, Hayne called for the ball and ended up sinking the one-pointer from 30 metres out with eight seconds remaining.

Hayne said he drew on inspiration from his rugby union stint to nail his fourth career field goal.

“It was very special,” Hayne said.

“You couldn’t have written the script any better. During the game I was going a bit of lip to Mitch (Moses) and Woodsy (Aaron Woods). Mucking around having fun out there. As soon as I kicked it, I looked around and I said I know this is the Tigers home ground but this is my house.

“I thought ‘oh **** I might have to have a crack here’.

James Tedesco is helped off with a suspected broken jaw.

“As soon as I got the ball I went to my mode when I was at Fiji sevens where I was kicking field goals.

“That was to really take your time and really get the drop right. That’s the biggest thing. I take an eternity to get the ball down. When you hit it that good, that’s why.”

Mitchell Moses missed a penalty goal 10 metres in from touch to break the deadline and also sprayed two field goal attempts. The Tigers scored two tries in five minutes to have the scores level with eight minutes remaining.

Titans coach Neil Henry said Hayne “nailed” the match winning play.

“He had nice touches and good defensive reads,” Henry said. “He wasn’t over targeted defensively. “We all know he has got great touch. It hasn’t taken him long to get back in the groove.

He hit it sweet. It was good. It was good to see him have a couple of runs. He is willing to work in yardage. That’s his role.”

Hayne started slowly. His first kick went out on the full, while he gave away two penalties in the first 15 minutes. But his rust would not last long, with an intercept sparking the side to life. He also laid on a first half try to Anthony Don with a cross field bomb.

The victory sees the Titans leapfrog the Tigers on the premiership ladder. The Tigers started fast — scoring the quickest try of the season when Kevin Naiqama scored after 52 seconds.

Mitchell Moses missed a chance to win it for the Tigers.

A controversial obstruction call went against the Tigers when it was ruled Ave Seumanufagi was ruled to have initiated contact with David Shillington, despite replays suggesting the Titans veteran prop had made a poor defensive error. Despite receiving a “couple of tough calls” Jason Taylor refused to blame the officials for the loss.

“It’s tough to take,” Taylor said of the loss. “A lot of things went against us. Lots of stuff we had to overcome. The great part is that we did. It’s a different performance from the Wests Tigers. We didn’t really get it together in attack. Early in the game should’ve had a few more points.

“The referees are human and they make mistakes. Referees are going to make mistakes.”

Despite Tedesco’s injury, the Tigers fought back and drew level when David Nofaluma scored twice in five minutes to have the scores locked with eight minutes remaining.

FulltimeGOLD COAST 19 (A Don 2 J Hoffman N MacDonald tries A Taylor goal J Hayne field goal) bt WESTS TIGERS 18 (D Nofoaluma 2 K Naiqama tries M Moses 2 J Rankin goals) at Campbelltown Sports Stadium. Referee: Gavin Badger, Ben Cummins. Crowd: 16,783.

Originally published as Jarryd Hayne kicks winning field goals as Wests Tigers defeated by Gold Coast Titans