Sunday’s NRL 2018 Round 3 match is between Gold Coast Titans and St George Illawarra Dragons. The opening kick is set to commence at 16:10 local time with the game to be played at Clive Berghofer Stadium. The away team St George Illawarra Dragons are the favourites for the match. View our preview and teams for the game between Gold Coast Titans and St George Illawarra Dragons.

When: 16:10 | Sunday 25/03/2018

Where: Clive Berghofer Stadium

Preview:

Halfback Ash Taylor’s return to the Titans’ line-up comes at the right time with the unbeaten St. George-Illawarra Dragons marching into Toowoomba.
Taylor’s return is one of two big changes for the Titans who also gain prop Jarrod Wallace who returns to the bench.
The Dragons are unchanged and although they lead 7-6 since 2010, the Titans have won 3 of the last 5.
Playing interstate in day matches, the Dragons are 5-5 (80.0 percent) since 2013 and have a 5-1 (83.3 percent) line record in day matches against the Titans since 2011.
If the Dragons get up, it could get ugly for the Titans who when they go down, they lose by a whopping 16.2 points.

The Verdict

A day game spells trouble for the Titans who are just 1-8-0 in day games over the last two seasons while the Dragons are a healthier 8-6-0.
Paul McGregor’s men are oozing confidence and while Taylor and Wallace and big ins for the Titans, the Red V should make it 3 from 3.

Unibet Odds: Gold Coast Titans 2.60 St George Illawarra Dragons 1.50

Odds:

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Tip: St George Illawarra Dragons at $1.56

Value Tip: First Try Scorer: Kurt Mann at $15.00

More Info:

Teams:

Titans:

1 Michael Gordon, 2 Anthony Don, 3 Dale Copley, 4 Konrad Hurrell, 5 Phillip Sami, 6 Kane Elgey, 7 Ashley Taylor, 8 Jai Arrow, 9 Nathan Peats, 10 Leilani Latu, 11 Kevin Proctor, 12 Ryan James (c), 13 Bryce Cartwright

Interchange: 14 Mitch Rein, 15 Will Matthews, 16 Morgan Boyle, 17 Jarrod Wallace

Reserves: 18 Keegan Hipgrave, 19 Joe Greenwood, 20 AJ Brimson, 21 Tyronne Roberts-Davis.

Dragons:

1 Matthew Dufty, 2 Nene Macdonald, 3 Euan Aitken, 4 Tim Lafai, 5 Jason Nightingale, 6 Gareth Widdop (c), 7 Ben Hunt, 8 James Graham, 9 Cameron McInnes, 10 Paul Vaughan, 11 Tyson Frizell, 12 Tariq Sims, 13 Jack De Belin

Interchange: 14 Luciano Leilua, 15 Kurt Mann, 16 Leeson Ah Mau, 17 Hame Sele

Reserves: 18 Jeremy Latimore, 19 Zachary Lomax, 20 Reece Robson, 21 Blake Lawrie.

NRL News:

St George Illawarra have overcome an early deficit to shock Cronulla 20-16 in a bizarre NRL local derby at Southern Cross Group Stadium.

The Sharks looked to have the game within their grasp a number of times, leading 14-0 after 26 minutes and then with a man advantage midway through the second half when the game was locked at 16-all.

But after a near perfect first half in attack, Cronulla could only muster three play-the-balls with Jason Nightingale off the field for a professional foul, handing the Dragons back-to-back penalty goals and the four-point victory.

Ben Hunt and Gareth Widdop again showed the potential of their combination, as the Red V made use of a blustery wind at their backs in the second half.

They kicked for both of the Dragons’ initial two tries of the comeback, Widdop’s first highlighted by a miraculous leaping Nene Macdonald effort to get the ball down before his feet went out.

After Hunt fortuitously put Tyson Frizell in via a miskick following the halftime break, he and Widdop combined to put Euan Aitken outside his opposite centre to score.

Aitken also played a key role in the win, having moments earlier forced the ball loose from Josh Dugan as the former Dragon crossed the line in his first game at fullback for the Sharks.

Cronulla were left to rue blowing a first-half effort where they made just one handling error.

Matt Moylan’s impact was more pronounced than in last week’s loss to North Queensland, forcing two line drop-outs off his boot and having his first assist for Cronulla when he threw a bullet cut-out pass for Sosaia Feki.

His combination with Josh Dugan at fullback was also impressive, however the five-eighth blew a difficult chance to win the match for the Sharks when he fumbled a tough Kurt Capewell offload in front of the posts with minutes to play.

Meanwhile Valentine Holmes had an unhappy night back on the right wing.

He was jumped over by Macdonald for the Dragons’ first try, threw an intercept as the Sharks mounted pressure late in the opening half and then made another error early in the second.