Dragons 26 Titans 22

The Temple of Boom has finally gone bust.

After a bull market in which seven teams attempted to lay siege to Skilled Park in 2008 - and seven teams limped away with nothing to show - the Titans have finally been handed a loss in the cocoon of their new home ground.

The fans at Robina aren't used to boarding the buses back to the beach knowing a big "L" has just been pencilled in the results column.

It took St George Illawarra and the absence of a quartet of the Titans' most influential players to break the cycle. A 69th-minute try to Dragons winger Michael Lett sealed the visitors' win in a tit-for-tat match.

While a weekend devoid of Origin stars has resulted in pitiful crowds in Sydney, a roaring rabble of 26,453 proved that the Gold Coast's crush on the Titans goes beyond the charms of Scott Prince's silky skills.

It was a night to remember for a Dragons outfit - missing Matt Cooper, Mark Gasnier and Ben Creagh - who chalked up their sixth win on the trot. It was one to forget for Titans winger Ben Jeffery, who copped more bombs than Dresden and crumbled in similar fashion.

The unrelenting tactic worked, with Jeffery coughing it up twice - in the 51st minute for Chase Stanley and in the 69th for Lett - to give the Dragons the decisive edge.

But Dragons coach Nathan Brown said a first-half nap by his senior players could have cost his side dearly.

"We're happy we were the first side to win up here," Brown said. "A lot of sides have tried this year and lost. As an overall performance I thought it was disappointing.

"Without being disrespectful to the Coast, I thought our first 40 minutes was very slack. We had some senior players who set poor standards. It's like a cancer and we played lethargic and slow."

Even with Prince, Anthony Laffranchi, Ashley Harrison and Luke Bailey in Origin camp or on crutches, it looked like the Titans would emerge from the sanctuary of Skilled Park unscathed once again.

They led 14-12 at half-time and it took just seven minutes for the advantage to be stretched to six via a Luke O'Dwyer try. But the Dragons returned fire almost immediately to even the ledger.

A Rogers intercept try in the 60th minute put the home side in front again before Lett sealed the win for the Dragons.

ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA 26 (B Hornby B Morris C Stanley M Lett tries; J Soward 5 goals) bt GOLD COAST 22 (B Jeffery B Delaney L O'Dwyer M Rogers tries M Rogers 3 goals) at Skilled Park, Gold Coast. Referee: B Sutton. Crowd: 26,453.