Titans 16
Sharks 30
The Warriors' tension may have eased slightly last night after Friday's win over the Broncos - and after this defeat of the Titans.
The Titans are one of three likely opponents - the others being the Tigers and the Panthers - for the Warriors when they play finals football in
a fortnight.
The Warriors have been beaten twice by the Titans this season but this proved they can be vulnerable.
The Titans had won their previous five matches and were seemingly on a roll; second on the ladder. The loss has continued a trend this season where no team has won six matches in a row. The Titans struggled to turnaround from a Monday night game last week.
The Sharks in contrast have had a wretched season with the early exit of Ricky Stuart as coach leaving them at 14th on the table. Under acting coach Shane Flanagan, they had only won one match in over a month since Stuart's fall.
The Sharks may have had more to play for in their final home game of the season. Wing Luke Covell - a 2007 Kiwi - and veteran five-eighth Trent Barrett are retiring and the team mustered the motivation to see them off at home in style.
The Titans were punished by early penalties, including two to centre Clinton Toopi for stripping the ball. The Sharks capitalised and after the first half hour had claimed 62 per cent of the possession and dominated territory for a 12-0 lead. At the same stage the Titans had only completed seven sets of tackles.
It could not have started more perfectly for Covell, scoring the opening try in his 130th (and penultimate) match for the club. A floating pass from Titans halfback Scott Prince bounced before the intended target of Toopi and popped into Covell's hands. The 28-year-old ran 40m for a perfect retirement present in the seventh minute.
Nathan Gardner further underlined his credentials as an up-and-coming fullback by finishing a move which included some initial evasive work by wing Blake Ferguson.
A Paul Gallen try gave the Sharks an 18-6 halftime lead. It was just the fourth time they have been in front after 40 minutes this season.
Bodene Thompson came off the interchange bench to pull a ball out of Sharks centre Ben Pomeroy's grasp from a Mat Rogers chip kick to claw back to 12-6. Thompson brought the score back to 18-12 in the 49th minute doing something similar, proving he's a force in the air.
Toopi erred again in the 57th minute by getting involved in a scrap. Tim Smith consequently dropped the ball on his foot and used the space behind the Titans defence to score. That took the Sharks to another 12-point buffer which effectively sealed the match.
Mat Rogers came off with just over quarter of an hour to go with a tender hip.
The Titans play Wests Tigers next week. The Tigers have a chance to go into clear second on the table with 34 points today if they can beat visitors Melbourne. Penrith can push the Titans back into fourth if they beat Canterbury tomorrow.
Titans 16 (B. Thompson 2, J. Atkins tries, S. Prince 2 goals) Sharks 30 (L. Covell, N. Gardner, P. Gallen, T. Smith, L. Douglas tries, Covell 5 goals). Halftime: Sharks 18-6.
