Meninga Cup semi-finals: Wynnum Manly Seagulls v Tweed Heads Seagulls, Townsville Blackhawks v Central Capras
Meninga Cup semi-finals: Tweed Heads Seagulls will play Townsville in the grand final after Blackhawks great escape against a gutsy Central Capras.
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Tweed Heads Seagulls will play Townsville in the Meninga Cup grand final after Blackhawks great escape against a gutsy Central Capras at Kourgari Oval today.
Tweed beat home side Wynnum Manly 40-18 in semi-final No.1, while in a late thriller Luke Jack and Will Latu spearheaded Townsville Blackhawks who snuck past Central Capras 28-24.
The result means Blackhawks will now host the grand final on Saturday afternoon in Townsville.
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The Capras went within a whisker of a major upset after trailing early, with second half tries to Maverick Pegoraro and Jordan Davies edging Townsville marginally over the top of their country cousins.
“I thought the Capras played a really good game and played field position on us and we had to earn our stripes coming out of our own end,’’ said Townsville coach Steve Sheppard.
Sheppard, who would be looking for a better defensive performance in the grand final, said it would be good for the community to have a home game in Townsville.
Capras coach Kane Hardy was proud of his team. “Credit to the Blackhawks who kept at us all day, but in saying that we need some credit as well.
“People said we would not get close to them but we grinded it out with them and I am very proud.
“I am proud of where we have come from and to think we were nearly in a grand final. That hurts more knowing how close we were.’’
The Blackhawks were on their way after scoring three early tries, one to the rampaging edge backrower Latu, and two to fleet-a-foot Ragarive Wavik who knows his way to the tryline like no one else in the competition.
But Capras’ own try scoring machine lifted his team’s morale when winger Kalani Sing scored and by midway through the second half Capras were headed toward an upset win.
In the earlier match, Tweed Seagulls could not have been more impressive across the width of the field as they maintained a high standard from start to finish against a Wynnum team which offered too many mistakes.
“That is what we want to do, keep the ball rolling and get as many quick play the balls as we can because we knew they were a big forward pack and if we could get them tired, there might be some space,’’ said Tweed coach Tim Maccan.
Tweed played an up-tempo match, with the Seagulls two No.9s, Oskar Bryant and Blake Mozer, complementing the style of play with wide passes from the ruck to halfback Tom Weaver and five-eighth Harradyn Wilson.
“We try and squeeze them in the middle there and with those passes, catch them on the edge there with some fast feet with our edge men,’’ Maccan said.
At times it looked like a game from the 1990s as both teams struggled to wrestle and slow the play down in the ruck.
In the end Tweed had better ball control, and with their halfback Weaver feeding threatening backrowers and centre Deine Mariner, the Tweed were too strong.
At the back fullback Jaylan De Groot loomed like a lightning bolt and Tweed’s potency was there for all to see.
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Wynnum coach Jesse Maclean said his team never really gave themselves a chance.
“It was an enjoyable season. Our thoughts all week was that we could win if we controlled the ball and we wanted to get on the front foot and attack, but we kept on turning over cheap possession.
“Tweed had too much class. We just couldn’t make it work, but full credit to them.’’
Wynnum suffered a blow when hooker Shaun Packer sprained his ankle in the last home and away fixture.
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