Michael Jennings delivered an outstanding display in his return from a one-game club-imposed ban to spearhead the Sydney Roosters' 20-10 NRL win over Gold Coast on Sunday.
The Roosters were lucky to escape with the two points after an error-riddled second half but still did enough to jump into the top four in front of 12,569 fans at Central Coast Stadium.
Jennings scored a try before turning provider for James Maloney's four-pointer in a crucial 11-minute period before halftime - the points the Roosters scored during that period would prove the difference.
Coach Trent Robinson did not hide his disappointment with his side's execution - the Roosters completing just 26 of their 43 sets and making 18 handling errors.
"It (their error count) was really poor in the second half especially," Robinson said.
"We didn't execute well at the start of the game, especially down their end.
"I think we carried over from last week. Then it probably got worse in the second half. There were some very different performances from us today.
"Defence held us in there."
After Anthony Don intercepted a Maloney bat-on and raced 90 metres to score, the Titans were well in the game, down 6-4 after 15 minutes.
Then Jennings, who missed the team's last start after being arrested during a run-in with police in Parramatta, made his mark.
First he bustled through three retreating defenders to score and push his team's lead out to eight.
Then on the stroke of halftime Maloney broke the line and threw it to Jennings, who turned it back inside for the Roosters five-eighth to score.
The Titans had their chances in the second half but were just as disjointed as the Roosters.
They suffered a blow when Ryan James was ruled out with a shoulder injury, causing a reshuffle of the side including moving James Roberts to five-eighth.
Jennings' performance was one of the few high points for the Roosters, along with prop Dylan Napa who put his hand up for a Queensland State of Origin jumper, running for 148 metres, including a memorable line break.
Gold Coast got back within touching distance when Nene MacDonald pounced after Roger Tuivasa-Sheck bobbled a grubber.
However they failed to capitalise despite the Roosters' indifferent performance and having plenty of opportunities in their opposition's half.
"We got down there and had a couple of opportunities," Titans coach Neil Henry said.
"We came up with a couple of errors early in the count when we got into an attacking position. Overall we battled away.
"In the second half we came out and I thought it was a pretty entertaining half of footy. With some good scrambling defence at times and some good contact at times and we forced a few errors by being a bit aggressive with our defensive line.
"We just needed that try to make them nervous."
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