Wayne Bennett has tasted his first NRL victory as coach of St George Illawarra with the merged club grinding its way to a solid 16-10 victory over a below-par Gold Coast Titans at WIN Stadium on Saturday night.
With the hot sun beaming down for much of the first half, both sides found it difficult to hold onto the ball in the heat, but it was the Dragons who took a 6-4 lead into the break courtesy of a Jeremy Smith four-pointer in the 21st minute.
The Titans continued their struggle in the second 40 minutes, allowing the Dragons, equipped with a simple game plan, to ease home courtesy of a two-tries-to-one second half in front of 13,329 fans.
The result means the Gold Coast remains winless against the Dragons in five starts.
While Bennett still has plenty to work on in attack with his new club, defence is certainly not a problem with the Dragons muscling up from the onset.
Re-born prop Michael Weyman was the Dragons' best with 18 hit-ups for 175m, just ahead of second-rower Matt Prior and five-eighth Jamie Soward, who set up two of the Dragons' three tries with kicks.
Titans co-captain Scott Prince showcased his undoubted skills for the opening try in just the fourth minute of play when he freakishly toed ahead a low, long Ben Hornby pass near halfway to pick up the ball and outrun the defence for a right-edge four-pointer.
His sideline conversion was astray but the Titans held an early 4-0 lead.
The Dragons' first home try for 2009 came in the 21st minute when New Zealand World Cup hero Smith crashed over for a simple converted try under the posts to put the hosts 6-4 in front.
Referee Alan Shortall denied the Titans an opportunity to regain the lead on the half-hour when he called back what appeared to be a fair Mark Minichiello try due to a forward pass.
The Dragons' extended their two-point half-time lead just after the break when interchange forward Neville Costigan was on hand to take an awkward-bouncing Soward grubber for a try under the posts.
Soward's simple conversion pushed the hosts out to a handy 12-4 lead with 34 minutes remaining in the match.
It was almost curtains for the fast-fading Titans 54 minutes in when winger Jason Nightingale looked certain to finish off a well-worked left-edge move, but some desperate cover-defence by Gold Coast everywhere man Nathan Friend thwarted the Dragons' efforts.
But Nightingale was not to be denied in the 65th minute, plucking a Soward corner-kick from the clutches of opposite Jordan Atkins for a four-pointer, extending the Dragons' advantage to 12 points.
A try by William Zillman on full-time was pure consolation for the disappointing Titans.
St George Illawarra Dragons 16
Tries: J. Smith, Costigan, Nightingale
Conversions: Soward 2
Gold Coast Titans 10
Tries: Prince, Zillman
Conversions: Prince