NRL 2021: Newcastle Knights win 15-14 over Gold Coast Titans | Match Report

The finals race is almost over, with just one spot in the top eight left up for grabs after a rare Mitchell Pearce field goal toppled the Titans.

The Knights have secured a spot in the 2021 finals series, with just one spot in the top eight still up for grabs. Picture: Getty Images.

Cometh the 79th minute, cometh the man.

With the game on the line and a finals spot up for grabs, Mitchell Pearce’s field goal not only booked Newcastle a spot in September but delivered a dagger blow to the Gold Coast’s top eight chances last night.

“Champions stand up in the big moments and that’s what he did,” Knight coach Adam O’Brien said after the match.

The 15-14 win at Sunshine Coast Stadium put the Knights six points clear of fellow finals chasers Cronulla, Canberra and now the Titans.

“I’m proud of that effort, we just found a way to pick ourselves up and keep fighting and I’m really proud of them for getting the result in the end. It’s a young team, in terms of our bench, but they didn’t care. They said all week ‘we are going to fight’ and that’s what they did,” O’Brien said.

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The Knights have secured a spot in the 2021 finals series, with just one spot in the top eight still up for grabs. Picture: Getty Images.

KNIGHTS ATTACK

The winning field goal wasn’t the only moment Pearce stood-up for his side. When the Knights needed their No.7, Pearce produced a 40-20 in the 50th minute to give his side a rare chance to attack in the Titans’ red zone. But Pearce’s efforts were wasted after some poor handling from Bradman Best early in the set.

“He was huge, he shouldered a lot of the frustration with the team last week when we were dissecting our attack against the Bulldogs,” O’Brien said.

“We get a longer turn around so I’d like to see that [the attack] get better.”

That moment was Newcastle’s only fifth tackle in the opposition twenty-metre zone all game.

While the Knights have improved on leaking defence in the second part of the season, attack is still a worry despite Thursday night’s win. Newcastle’s 18 points per game average is the second worst to the Canterbury Bulldogs.

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Mitchell Pearce kicked just the tenth field goal of his long career to lock the Knights into finals. Picture: Getty Images.

PROBING PONGA

Normally locked into the left side of the field, the superstar fullback has evolved into a more roving role, probing both sides of the field. He opened the scoring for Knights last night on the left, his favoured side, but tested and prodded the Titans right hand side too. It was only the loose fingers of Hunt that denied the winger a four-pointer.

Ponga was Newcastle’s only real threat in attack last night, setting-up halfback Mitchell Pearce with a try that helped level the match midway through the second half.

The Knights have secured a spot in the 2021 finals series, with just one spot in the top eight still up for grabs. Picture: Getty Images.

JAYDEN CAMPBELL

Not lacking any confidence, a three- year deal was a shot in the arm of courage that the pint-sized fullback will need to rough it with the NRL’s big men. Campbell answered all the questions asked of him under the ball when put under kick pressure by Mitchell Pearce and Jake Clifford.

The 78-kilogram playmaker didn’t shy away from taking on Newcastle’s middles either and put his body on the line. Arguably the Titans best in the opening 40 minutes, Campbell will be a spine selection headache for Holbrook when regular fullback AJ Brimson returns.

“He’s been terrific for us and he has been great again tonight, hopefully we will get them both [into the side] in the long term. He’s just got to do a good for us at the moment at fullback and we’ll look at it for next year,” Titans coach Justin Holbrook said.

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STRANGE TACTICS

Titans coach Justin Holbrook left his million dollar man David Fifita warming the bench for 32 minutes last night. With the match level at 6-all and in need of a game breaker the decision to inject the game’s leading tackle breaker and the club’s leading try scorer late in the first half raised eyebrows. Particularly because the big man ran riot and terrorised the Knights back in round five, scoring a hatrick.

It didn’t take long for Fifita to strike though, the forward got the smallest sniff of some space in the Knights defence, and he bowled over three Knights players to put his side in front into the break.

Many were shocked after Greg Marzhew was dropped, but Phillip Sami was a standout for the Titans. Picture: Getty Images.

SUPER SAMI

Sami wasted no time in making an impact on his return from an ankle injury. The winger, who replaced Greg Marzhew, opened the scoring with a try that embarrassed Newcastle’s defence in the first 10 minutes.

Against the run of play Titans backrower Beau Fermor disposed of Newcastle right edge defence of Kurt Mann and Hymel Hunt.

The misread would have been disappointing for Knights coach Adam O’Brien, who leading into the match was confident his side was defending like a top eight team.

Sami finished with a game-high 186 metres, four tackle busts and a linebreak.

TACKLE MACHINE

Knights hooker Jayden Brailey continued to eat up the tackles but fell short of the 44 he needed to break Chris Houston’s 974 tackles in 2012, the record in a season by a Knights player.

As well as making 35 tackles, the dummy half was just as effective offensively making decisive runs and spotting lazy Titans defenders to help set-up Ponga’s - and Newcastle’s only try in the first half.