The injury-hit Roosters did just enough to get past a gritty Gold Coast side on Saturday, winning 18-12 at the SCG. [Source: NRL]

The injury-hit Roosters did just enough to get past a gritty Gold Coast side on Saturday, winning 18-12 at the SCG.

With both Morris twins joining a bulging Roosters injured list which also features skipper Boyd Cordner and fellow back-rowers Angus Crichton, Isaac Liu and Victor Radley, the home side struggled to put last year’s wooden spooners away – despite the Gold Coast twice having players sent to the sin bin.

The Roosters opened the scoring with a penalty goal but soon found themselves trailing when Anthony Don grabbed the game’s first try for the Titans.

The four-pointer went unconverted and scores were level when Kyle Flanagan slotted his second penalty, with Gold Coast centre Brian Kelly sin-binned for a professional foul, and the premiers went in front when James Tedesco sent Mitchell Aubusson over in the right corner.

An Ash Taylor penalty goal made it 10-6 at the break before the Gold Coast lost another player to the sin bin early in the second half when Keegan Hipgrave tackled Lindsay Collins without the ball in the Titans’ in-goal.

But the visitors’ defence held firm for the next 10 minutes, conceding a third penalty goal but no tries, and it wasn’t until the final 20 minutes when their line was breached again with Joey Manu bringing down a high ball to score.

The Titans didn’t lose hope and when Kelly sent Phillip Sami over in the final five minutes they looked half a chance, with Ash Taylor’s sideline conversion reducing the deficit to six.