Kalyn Ponga’s return from injury gets off to worst possible start

Kalyn Ponga’s return from injury hasn’t gone to plan for Newcastle, with the star costing his side a try in the opening minutes of its game.

Kalyn Ponga’s return from injury got off to a woeful start on Saturday afternoon — the Newcastle Knights star kicked the ball out on the full with his first touch of the footy insix months.

Depleted by injury and languishing in the bottom half of the table, Newcastle headed to the Gold Coast desperate for a win in round five, but went down 42-16 to a polished Titans outfit.

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Things got off to a rocky start for the visitors.

Ponga swung the game’s first kick-off too far to the right, allowing Titans winger Corey Thompson to catch the ball with his foot on the line and earn his side a penalty.

“That’s an awful start, an absolutely horrible start from the Knights,” said Fox League commentator Dan Ginnane.

“His first effort in the game goes out on the full,” added Steve Roach.

To make matters worse, the Titans’ penalty gifted them a free pass into Knights territory, where they scored a try from their first set of six.

“What a start, what a dream start for the Titans,” Ginnane said.

“Newcastle put it out on the full and the Titans don’t even need a full set with Tyrone Peachey setting it up for Kevin Proctor. That’s ominous.”

Despite his early bungle, Ponga won the praise of coach Adam O’Brien for the rest of his performance.

“I thought he was probably, other than (David) Fifita, I thought he was the best player on the field with the ball. Every time he had it he looked dangerous,” O’Brien said.

“To be out for as long as he is that’s probably the thing that’s going to let me sleep tonight.”

The tries flowed for the Titans in the first 40.

Star recruit Fifita bagged a first half double — his second of the year — while Patrick Herbert and Corey Thompson also crossed the chalk for four-pointers.

The Knights managed two tries in the half, the first courtesy of lock Chris Randall.

But nothing was going Newcastle’s way — Randall left the field with a shoulder injury shortly after and did not return.

The Titans also lost centre Philip Sami, who left the field for an HIA after a tackle from Knights enforcer Tyson Frizell.

Newcastle’s second four-pointer came through Starford To’a late in the half, but fans had cause for concern heading into the break, with their side down 26-12.

“Things are going very, very wrong for the Knights,” Ginnane said.

After a colossal halftime tyrade from O’Brien, the Knights came into the second half with all the work to do.

While they managed to hold the rabid Titans attack at bay for the opening ten minutes, David Fifita barrelled over in the 51st to notch his maiden NRL hat-trick.

Thompson and Herbert each bagged second half four-pointers to finish the game with tryscoring doubles.

Ponga ran a support line to outpace Titans fullback AJ Brimson and gift the Knights their third try, but it’ll be cold comfort for Newcastle fans, as their side finished the game on the wrong end of a 42-16 scoreline.

They’ll hope to avoid a fourth straight loss when they face Cronulla next week.

The match marked the sixth occasion in a row the Titans have scored 30 or more points against the Knights at Cbus Super Stadium.

Justin Holbrook’s men will look to continue their winning ways against the Sea Eagles next Saturday.