Prince back to haunt Titans

IT took a trip back home to the Gold Coast for Brisbane recruit Scott Prince to rediscover his touch and reignite the Broncos' NRL season.

Prince

IT took a trip back home to the Gold Coast for Brisbane recruit Scott Prince to rediscover his touch and reignite the Broncos' NRL season.

Prince did exactly what he had done at Skilled Park for the previous five seasons last night: deliver the crucial play to set his team up for a pressure-relieving victory.

Except last night Prince was in Broncos colours as his new team Brisbane claimed a comprehensive 32-12 win over his former team the Titans.

It wasn’t a man of the match performance by the 33-year-old, but he produced when it mattered to set up the try to Matt Gillett that opened the floodgates.

It was the first attacking statistic Prince had produced since he joined the Broncos as he held back his pass until the perfect moment for Gillett to stroll through a gaping hole and score almost untouched.

“I thought his second half was very good, he got us a couple of opportunities there,” coach Anthony Griffin said.

“In the first half he was under a lot of pressure from the opposition and I thought he held his end up in defence and came up with some nice plays for us to get some space for Gillett and Hodges on the right side.”

The Broncos had trailed the Titans 12-10 at half-time, but appeared the better team for the majority of the game.

They piled on four second half tries as the likes of Ben Hannant and Corey Parker laid a perfect platform up front.

It was only a fortnight ago that Brisbane’s attack was the subject of ridicule as they failed to score a single point or produce a linebreak in the 8-0 loss to the Roosters.

Since that game the Broncos have produced five tries against Melbourne and another six against the Titans, who until last night were rated the second best defensive team in the NRL.

Tellingly, Brisbane’s left side led by Peter Wallace and centre Jack Reed have produced seven tries in two weeks.

It’s just reward for Griffin, who persisted with a new halves and fullback combination despite growing external pressure in the early weeks.

“The last couple of weeks we’ve been a lot more direct, the halves and fullback have combined a bit better,” Griffin said.

“Tonight we won the game on the back of defensive effort and pressure in the second half. Eventually that turned into points for us.

“I just think it’s the fit for us at the moment. We’ve been playing pretty well, apart from Roosters game and that was just a slugfest.

“We’ve been in every game, it’s not so much the attack we’ve just been beating ourselves at times with a lack of discipline.

“We knuckled down and refused to lose with our defensive pressure.”

Brisbane picked up more injury concerns though with Dunamis Lui suffering a medial ligament strain in his knee.

It’s not nearly as bad as the fate of the Titans, who lost five-eighth Aidan Sezer (hamstring) before the match and halfback Albert Kelly (medial ligament knee) in the final few minutes.

Griffin is hopeful that prop Josh McGuire could return from a calf strain for next week’s derby clash with North Queensland, along with suspended skipper Sam Thaiday.

BRISBANE 32 (M Gillett J Hodges J Hoffman A McCullough N Slyney P Wallace tries S Prince 4 goals) bt GOLD COAST 12 (B Falloon A Kelly tries G Bird 2 goals) at Skilled Park. Referee: Shayne Hayne, Alan Shortall. Crowd: 22,749.