The Titans emerged 38-34 winners over the Storm on Saturday afternoon in a contest which saw 12 tries scored in sweltering conditions on the Gold Coast.
The Titans trailed 24-18 at the break before overcoming the error-prone Storm in the second 40 minutes, with star off-season recruit and chief playmaker Kieran Foran impressing, despite spending 24 minutes on the bench after being substituted in a surprise move by coach Justin Holbrook.
Even in his more limited role, Foran set up a try and laid on two line breaks, which included helping rookie winger Alofiana Khan-Pereira to a first-half double.
While it was high-scoring, it was also full of errors from both sides, with the Storm coughing the ball up 17 times and the Titans 13, with 12 penalties conceded between them.
Khan-Pereira stands up Storm defence
After taking a six-point lead into the break, the Storm made a horror start to the second stanza, with errors from Jahrome Hughes leading directly to a pair of Titans tries in the first six minutes after half-time.
But Melbourne refused to go away, with tries to Hughes and Xavier Coates in the final 15 minutes ensuring the final result went down to the wire.
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Match snapshot
- Three players scored doubles in the try-fest at Cbus Super Stadium, with Alofiana Khan-Pereira and Aaron Schoupp scoring twice for the Titans and Nick Meaney doing the same for the Storm.
- There were a combined 30 errors in the match, with neither side completing at over 72 percent.
- It was the Titans' first win over the Storm at Cbus Super Stadium since 2013.
- Titans coach Justin Holbrook subbed star off-season signing Kieran Foran in the 32nd minute and didn't bring him back on until midway through the second half.
- Tanah Boyd left the field for a HIA in the first half which he passed.
- A stunning 70-metre effort from Titans, which saw the ball change hand six times, got the scoring going, with Khan-Pereira dotting down for a converted try.
Titans go long range
- Tanah Boyd then added another two via a penalty goal after he was hit late by Jahrome Hughes.
- Jonah Pezet marked his NRL debut with a nice individual try, grabbing a Justin Olam offload before beating his marker with footwork and scooting 35 metres to the line. Nick Meaney converted to reduce the gap to 8-6.
- Khan-Pereira was at it again on 21 minutes, putting on some dazzling footwork to bamboozle the defence, but three minutes later the Storm returned serve through Meaney.
- With his second touch as a Storm player, Tariq Sims powered through for a try under the posts after taking a short ball from Pezet at close range.
- Meaney scored the next six points through his second try and a conversion, but Brian Kelly's try a minute from the break ensured the Titans trailed by only six heading into the sheds.
- An error handed Jo Vuna one of the easier four-pointers he'll score early in the second half, before another Storm fumble saw Aaron Schoupp streak away for the Titans' fifth.
Try and try again for Meaney
- Hughes got one back for the Storm before Schoupp's second came seven minutes from time, with Xavier Coates' late effort not enough to change the result.
- The Titans have now scored 118 points in their past three games at Cbus Super Stadium.
Play of the game
New South Wales age-grade star Jonah Pezet wasted little time in announcing himself on the NRL stage, scoring an impressive solo try just 10 minutes into his debut. From the footwork to stand his marker up, to the little dummy and turn of pace at the end, it was a try sure to have Storm fans excited for Pezet's future.
Pezet gets over on debut
What they said
"There were a lot of errors, the Titans were probably as bad as us, some of the errors that that made, but they hung on a lot better than us, but for us, at the moment, the care factor is very, very low. To me, we worked a little bit harder defensively today, so that was a little bit of an improvement, but they scored 18 points in six minutes ... so as I said care factor seems not too important at the moment." - Storm coach Craig Bellamy
Storm: Round 3
"I think we started really well and then they got on top of us and we fought our way back just before halftime and really was in control in the second half but a quality side is always going to fight their way back, so really happy to get the win." - Titans coach Justin Holbrook.
Titans: Round 3
What's next
The Storm are back at home on Friday against the Wests Tigers, with star five-eighth Cameron Munster a good chance of returning from the finger injury he suffered in Round 1. Tom Eisenhuth and George Jennings are also set to be available again. The Titans remain in Queensland, heading to Townsville for a derby clash against the Cowboys on Saturday.