Gold Coast Titans stun NRL ladder leading Brisbane Broncos, North ...

The Gold Coast Titans have scored an upset 18-12 NRL win over the ladder leading Brisbane Broncos at Lang Park.

Elsewhere, North Queensland thrashed the lacklustre Rabbitohs in Sydney and the Raiders edged the Roosters in a thriller at the SFS.

In Brisbane, former Bronco David Fifita came back to haunt his former club in a man-of-the-match display to inspire a Gold Coast team in crisis at the start of the week.

The Titans back-rower scored a try and set one up either side of half-time in a Sunday afternoon thriller in front of 42,249 fans at Lang Park.

With former head coach Justin Holbrook sacked on Thursday, there was always going to be a question mark over how the players would respond with interim coach Jimmy Lenihan at the helm.

Without inspirational captain Tino Fa'asuamaleaui, rested after his State of Origin heroics for Queensland, the Titans were superb.

The Broncos had all four of their Origin players on deck but they were well off the pace.

Gold Coast took it to the Broncos for the majority of the first half but the hosts scrambled well despite struggling to find their groove in attack.

Pat Carrigan took it upon himself to get the Broncos on the board with a slick pass before the line, sending rampaging Tom Flegler over in the 28th minute.

The Titans levelled it up on the cusp of the break with a Fifita classic.

No.6 Kieran Foran held it up perfectly to put a barnstorming Fifita into a hole.

A controversial moment occurred in the lead-up to the try when Brisbane fullback Reece Walsh was ruled to have played at a kick by Titans winger Alofiana Khan-Pereira.

Walsh insisted he hadn't but the Titans were given another set and Fifita scored.

Fifita, also backing up from Maroons duty, started the second stanza on fire.

He powered his way through the Broncos defence off another Foran pass to send Brian Kelly over in the corner.

Khan-Pereira, one of the fastest players in the game, burned opposite number Selwyn Cobbo to race away and give the Titans a 16-6 lead.

The Broncos and Titans had tries disallowed to Brendan Piakura and Aaron Schoupp respectively after bombs.

Walsh was also denied after an obstruction.

Broncos number six Ezra Mam danced through four defenders to score in the 61st minute and a thrilling finish loomed.

Cobbo was penalised for a shepherd and Boyd landed the penalty goal as the Titans hung on to their 18-12 lead with grit.

Raiders edge fast-finishing Roosters in Sunday thriller

James Tedesco has heaped more pressure on beleaguered Blues coach Brad Fittler with a horror showing as the Sydney Roosters' NRL season reached crisis point with a 20-18 NRL loss to Canberra.

With calls already growing for Fittler to dump the NSW captain from State of Origin III, Tedesco's first-half shocker at the Sydney Football Stadium allowed the Raiders to race out to an ultimately match-winning 18-0 lead inside half an hour on Sunday night.

Setting the tone for his poor performance, a dreadful mix-up between Tedesco and winger Junior Pauga gifted Canberra the first points of the game in the fifth minute.

The pair made a meal of a Canberra bomb, leaving Egan Butcher with no choice but to retrieve the ball from an offside position and hand Jarrod Croker two points for the penalty.

Much worse was to follow for Tedesco with Jack Wighton outleaping the jump-shy fullback to score off another Fogarty high kick moments later.

By the time Tedesco was beaten in the air a third time, enabling Matthew Timoko to score Canebrra's third try following a long-range effort to Albert Hopoate, Trent Robinson's team looked like shot Roosters.

Joey Manu did his best to save Tedesco and the Tricolours' blushes with two superb tries in four minutes either side of half-time.

The 2022 world player of the year was denied a third midway through the second half as Canberra withstood the fightback to leave the Roosters — many pundits' pre-season title favourites — languishing in 12th spot, with more defeats than wins entering round 18.

In a huge concern for Robinson, the Roosters continue to possess the worst attacking record in the competition ahead of looming battles with heavyweights Melbourne, Brisbane and Parramatta.

With a poor points differential, the Roosters will probably need to win six of their remaining nine matches to scrape into the top eight and make the finals.

Compounding their woes, star back-rower Angus Crichton was forced out of Sunday's game at half-time with a knee injury and Victor Radley was placed on report for a high tackle on Croker.

But Robinson isn't the only coach with an almighty problem to solve.

Fittler faces a huge Origin selection dilemma.

With the series already lost and his six-year tenure as Blues boss seemingly coming to an end, Fittler is now also under increasing pressure to end Tedesco's decorated NSW career.

A concerted push for Dylan Edwards to be given a chance in place of the Blues' 21-game stalwart and skipper gained more momentum with the Penrith dynamo again starring in the understrength Panthers' 20-12 win over Newcastle on Saturday night.

Canberra's stocks, meanwhile, continue to rise.

Despite losing powerhouse prop Josh Papali'i to a hamstring injury inside the first 10 minutes, the Raiders' handy away win vaults Ricky Stuart's side from ninth to sixth on the ladder.

Cowboys outclass Rabbitohs

North Queensland's mid-season resurgence has rolled on with a 31-6 defeat of a lacklustre South Sydney, who are at risk of falling out of the NRL top eight by the end of the State of Origin period.

Scott Drinkwater and Valentine Holmes were standouts for a patient Cowboys side that neutralised danger man Cody Walker and called the Rabbitohs' premiership credentials into question.

For so long associated with high-octane football, the Rabbitohs fluffed their lines in attack on Sunday and desperately missed the spark of injured fullback Latrell Mitchell.

Mitchell is out with a calf complaint for at least two more games and the Rabbitohs will need more from Walker in attack if they are to stop the rot.

Souths' defence was their saving grace in a 5-0 first half but the Cowboys opened them up at will in the 10 minutes after the break.

One of seven Origin representatives backing up, Holmes scored in back-to-back sets after Drinkwater and Jeremiah Nanai line breaks in raids that proved decisive.

The Rabbitohs have now conceded an average of almost 33 points in their past five games.

The win caps a stunning turnaround for the Cowboys, who started the season with two wins from seven games but have beaten heavyweights Melbourne, Penrith and Souths in their past three matches.

The victory was the Cowboys' first outside of Queensland this season and moves them to within striking distance of the top eight.

Walker booted the ball dead twice in the first 10 minutes and when his cut-out pass sailed past Alex Johnston and into touch, the Cowboys were in position to open the scoring after 31 minutes.

As if to taunt his opposite number, Cowboys five-eighth Tom Dearden sent winger Murray Taulagi over with the same cut-out pass play Walker had been attempting.

Like his halves partner, Souths halfback Lachlan Ilias struggled to rouse the Rabbitohs but did get his side on the board from a scrum play in the 58th minute.

The game was out of Souths' reach when rookie teenager Kulikefu Finefeuiaki broke the line and crossed under the posts — another beneficiary of Drinkwater's ball-playing.

The win was the Cowboys' first against South Sydney since 2017, breaking a seven-game losing streak against the Rabbitohs.

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