Ponga burst down the left flank on another line break only three minutes later and then dummied past the recently re-signed Jayden Campbell to score a try of his own.
By that point, Newcastle were well and truly on their way to a win that will allow their five-eighth to sleep easy on Sunday night.
Dominic Young’s athletic catch before scoring Newcastle’s opener against the Titans.Credit: Getty
“To be honest it is (a relief),” Ponga said.
“It hasn’t been all sunshine and roses the last eight months. To come back home and put in a performance like that in front of the crowd I haven’t played in front of for a long time … I am happy.
“I need to back it up and be consistent. That’s something that I need to do for the rest of the year and probably something I haven’t done for a couple of years now.”
Ponga’s performance would not have gone unnoticed by Queensland coach Billy Slater, who is set to pick either the Knights star or Brisbane’s Reece Walsh to play fullback in Origin 1.
Kalyn Ponga and Bradman Best celebrate one of the latter’s two tries at McDonald Jones Stadium.Credit: Getty
“It’s a prestigious honour to represent Queensland,” Ponga said.
“But I can’t worry about selection. I want to worry about my performances (for the Knights).”
Best shrugged off criticism of his bye-week trip to Bali by pouncing on a Titans error in the in-goal to grab his second try in the final five minutes.
Titans second-rower David Fifita was the best of a beaten bunch, scoring two tries to push an Origin case that is fast becoming irresistible.
Titans teammates celebrate David Fifita’s try.Credit: Getty
He crashed past Frizell and Lachie Miller to open the Titans’ account and then gave Gold Coast a late sniff by belting away on a 95-metre line break to clinch a sixth career double.
But it was too little, too late for the Titans, who rued taking poor fifth-tackle options when they had the ascendancy early.
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“We just made too many errors,” Titans coach Justin Holbrook said.
“We’ve had a couple of good wins and we needed to stand up and deliver again today and we just weren’t good enough.”
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