Meninga Cup Tweed debutants shine; Connell, Harvey best players
UPDATE: Who shone in the latest round of Meninga Cup, Connell Challenge and Harvey under 19s rugby league, including today’s Bears’ blitz and the Seagulls taking flight.
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Wow. What a right edge performance from the Burleigh Bears in the Meninga Cup while the Wynnum Seagulls fought back hard in today’s Connell Challenge action.
The Meninga Cup Bears overcame a 20-4 deficit to win 40-24 at Kougari Oval, unleashing a right edge attack that is sure to challenge Souths Logan, Norths, Blackhawks and co. for the premiership.
Centre Kci Whare, edge backrower Seth Nikotemo and halve Keahn Skipps blitzed their rivals, while middle men Josiah Pahulu and Arama Hau were agile and highly skilled.
It was like a big wave forming outside the breakers whenever the ball was moved right as the Bears made Wynnum Manly pay for handling errors.
Wynnum had started the game so well, offering their halves ball control as big men Ryan Jackson and Felix Faatili got forward.
But the loss of Jackson with a cut head, and a tendency to disrespect possession late in the half saw momentum shift dramatically.
Bears forward Pahulu was powerful and skilful in unloading the ball and looks to have the endurance of a triathlete.
Burleigh captain Hau also worked both sides of the ruck with his charges and subtle ball play and the Bears could not be reeled back in.
Coach Michael Witt said his team was at its best when they played together and reduced mistakes.
“They listened to the message at halftime. It was a bit of a rollercoaster and we did make it hard for ourselves, but once we were able to hold onto the ball, I was pretty impressed,’’ Witt said.
“When we play together we play so much better, but we can make it hard on ourselves by making unforced errors. Hopefully this is a performance we can build on.’’
In the Meninga Cup clash in Townville, the Blackhawks impressed with a 40-6 win.
Outside backs Elekana Suavai (two) and Tekelu Mene (three) scored five tries between them down their edge after nice ball movement by halves Zack Lamont and Sean Bourke.
But that pair’s ball movement was only possible once the Blackhawks’ middle of Jeremiah Matautia, Henry Teutau and captain Damon Marshall laid a foundation.
“We got into the wrestle early after the Capras came out really strong against is,’’ said Blackhawks coach Roy Baira.
“But once we got back into the wrestle, we found our feet and Zac Lamont and Sean Bourke moved the ball really well and helped us get them one-on-one.’’
Capras Meninga Cup coach RJ Stewart said his side struggled to get possession against a white hot opposition. “We competed for the first 10 and then died off with no possession of the ball,’’ Stewart said.
He said No.13 Bailey Cavanough, hooker Carter Wight and middle forward Will Lewis were best.
In the Connell Challenge clash at Kougari Oval, the Wynnum Seagulls bounced back from a loss to Souths Logan to defeat Burleigh 28-14.
Connell Seagulls coach Mick Riemer praised the control of his halfback Zac Herdegen and hooker Caden Frame while Saxon Inness at the back was outstanding.
“I think we just learnt from last week,’’ Riemer said.
“We showed the benefits of holding onto the footie and completing our sets.
“We have enough footie in us, it is just a matter of holding onto the footie.
“Last week there were a lot of nervous boys and this week we were a lot more settled and playing at home always helps.’’
Bears Connell coach Paul Kuhnemann said the teams’s ball control was poor. “We did not complete enough. We had opportunities to win the game but it was just our last efforts.
“Wynnum were better than us with scrambling defence so we had opportunities but we just did not take advantage of them.’’
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He said the effort was there but there were at least four times on the edge where they did not complete, ruining their chances of mounting threats on the Wynnum tryline.
In Townsville, the Capras had a rousing win over the Blackhawks, 16-12, in a match which could easily have doubled for the Connell Challenge grand final, such was its intensity.
Jett Day and Tavita Penaia Te’o scored second half tries for Capras in a high quality game that could have gone either way.
Both coaches sung the praises of the opposition teams, as Capras rose to the occasion defensively against Blackhawks.
Indeed for all the skill, for all the toughness and grind in the middle, it was the battle of two wingers – Capras Cody Sanewski on Blackhawks’ Keelin Hookey – which probably best encapsulated the match.
Capras coach Duane Carpenter said Hookey was arguably the best winger in Connell Challenge but Sanewski deserved a special mention for his effort opposing the Blackhawks finisher.
“It was two quality sides and we probably had the run of the ball but could not capitalise on our opportunities,’’ said Townsville Blackhawks coach Nathan Norford.
“They (Capras) were well deserving, a big, strong team.’’
Capras coach Carpenter diverted praise straight back at the Blackhawks whom he said were the benchmark.
“We turned up like a grand final,’’ he said. “We knew it was all about defence for us.
“They are a quality side in the middle, and it was a good, tough gritty grinding defensive game and I am proud they could come up here and do that.’’
He said 14-year-old Zac Bateman from Cathedral College was outstanding in defence on the edge and his tackling “kept us in the game’’.
He also said the last quarter stint in the middle from captain Tavita Penaia Te’o and Baylee Meilland “turned the game’’.
Carpenter also said his spine of fullback Seth Carpenter, hooker Braelan Marsh and halves Clancy Hohn and Isaac Walker did a great job.
“It was a forward battle but the spine kept us in the game,’’ Carpenter said.
Norford said his centre Amaziah Murgha was a handful for his side.
On Saturday, Tweed Seagulls trio Barnie Litidamu, Will Saunders and Jett Jackson had winning debuts as the border town team swept to a round 4 Meninga Cup win.
The trio, all aged 17, answered a call to arms after Tweed were disrupted by injury and COVID withdrawals. Tweed won 46-14 over the Brisbane Tigers.
Fijian Litidamu came in late but did a fine job at centre while Jackson and Saunders did their job with aplomb.
“They stepped up and slotted into the team really well,’’ said Tweed coach Tim Maccan.
Maccan was delighted to see his side click.
“We showed in patches we can play some footy. We did well exiting out and shifting the ball around.’’
Tweed got some early momentum when Cooper Cambey scored in the first minute and Will Taylor in the fourth minute.
Best for Tweed was Will Taylor, a middle forward who played backrow. “He was strong defensively and ran some great lines,’’ Maccan said.
Tigers coach Isaac Kauufman said his team still needed to fix its defence. “We are still not working as a team there. We are playing in patches at the moment,’’ he said.
Kauufman said when the side is not giving away penalties “we can score points’’, but defensively they need to be better.
Prop Xavier Sofeni and dummy half Caleb Colls were the Tigers’ best.
At the North Ipswich Reserve, the Ipswich Jets pulled away from their Wide Bay rivals 46-12.
With fullback Tyler Peckham-Harris running 5-6km, the Jets had too much fire power.
Coach Shane Harris said his team played the brand of football the group had been seeking all season.
“In the first two rounds we had in our head the need to chase points,’’ Harris said.
“But we needed to trust our structure and our systems and know that if we are good individually, the points will come.’’
Peckham-Harris was a star with his kick returns giving Ipswich momentum, along with his footwork at the line.
He also pushed up around the ball to keep the pressure on Wide Bay.
Right centre Caleb Jackson also produced a tradesman like performance for the Jets, with great on line defence and nice hands to put his winger up the sideline. “He did all the one per cent plays well,’’ Harris said.
Wide Bay coach Antonio Kaufusi said he was proud of the boys despite the scoreline.
He said he finished with just one player on the bench and the team effort was outstanding.
“I said after the game I could not be prouder, especially of our middle forwards who played longer than they normally have to,’’ Kaufusi said.
Edge backrowers Ryan Smith and Tyrell Hopkins shone, but so did Harrison Brough and centre Liam Doolan. “Liam was great with the ball and without it,’’ the coach said.
At Redcliffe, Souths Logan’s blazing start to the season continued with a victory over the Dolphins, 44-10.
Fullback Tim Sielaff-Burns scored in the first minute from a Redcliffe mistake as the Magpies raced to a 28-nil first half advantage.
Chris Faagutu, Sielaff-Burns and the quicksilver Jye Gray all posted tries before Redcliffe found their feet.
A long way behind, Michael Waqa and Ulisese Nati crossed in quick succession midway through the match for Redcliffe, but it was a long way back.
Despite the win Souths Logan still have plenty to work on after dropping off a little, but it was a good win against good opposition on their home ground.
Centre Tre Fotu had a strong match in his first game of the season, while edge backrower Lewis Symonds from the Gold Coast shone.
But arguably Souths Logan’s best was front rower Ahmani Leilua.
Redcliffe coach Jamie Floss said there were too many early errors and “we just need to be better with our contact in defence’’.
He said backrower Tamakaimoana Whareaorere was again solid, while interchange dummy half Jack Cameron at hooker and Will McCulloch did his job very well.
At the Sunshine Coast, a 24-all draw was staged between the Falcons and Clydesdales.
The Sunshine Coast side surged from behind when it looked like the Darling Downs boys might steal the match.
Clydesdales coach Brendan Wilson said his front rowers Tobby Evans and Darcy Carswell were outstanding, and behind them halve Wil Brady “stood up and steered us around’’.
“Overall I am happy to come away with a point each,’’ Wilson said.
“Our first half was one of our better ones of the season.’’
Sunshine Coast coach Danny Gray said fullback Ethan Polner, half Jett Elich and interchange forward Cayse Munro were his best.
In Mackay, Kai Simon scored three tries as the Cutters came from behind to win 30-22 in a northern derby against Northern Pride.
In an 11 try shoot out, Pride led 12-4 at halftime and 16-4 when Luki scored into the second half.
But Mackay came rattling home with five of the last six tries of the match to Will Shears, Kai Simon (three) and Caleb Bradford scored at the death to make the match safe.
Best player information too come.
Pride coach Steven Lesina said his team threw the match away, saying discipline let the side down after working hard to lead well.
“There were two sin bins, the first of which created three tries and put them in front,’’ he said.
Lesina said left edge players were dangerous, with Kaleb Eaton having a good game while Joseph Pearson finished “some fantastic tries for us.’’
Cutters coach David Stevens said field position and building repeat sets were the key to their win.
“Our defence in the middle was also tough and physical,’’ he said.
Best player for the Cutters was centre Kai Simons.
CONNELL CHALLENGE
There was an early cliffhanger when the Tweed Seagulls and Brisbane Tigers drew 12-all on the Tweed.
Tigers Tyrell Tuimalealiifano scored late to level the scores in a match.
Patrick Gilbert’s conversion of Jake Mendham in the second half had elevated Tweed into the lead after tries by Tigers’ pair Mark Nosa and Tuimalealiifano had given the visitors an 8-nil advantage.
Tweed coach Neil Richard said it was a great reward for his team’s effort to clinch a draw.
“We don’t have any stars, any NRL contracted players. It was just a team with effort with a bunch of tryers,’’’ he said.
“We were ugly in the first half, but we hung in, showed some resilience and to comeback from two ordinary efforts in the first two rounds was great.’’
Best in a team effort for Tweed was dummy half Ayden Byrnes, while backrowers Jacob
Morton and Toran O’Donnell challenged the Tigers.
For the Brisbane Tigers, fullback Joshua Donovan had a fine match.
In Mackay, the Cutters survived a revived effort by Northern Pride to claim an exciting 24-18 win.
A late try to Pride’s Ceaser Yeatman opened the door for Northern Pride to steal a draw against a Mackay side that at one stage led 24-4 after tries by Bailey Anderson, Hayden Cumming, John Bowman and Bailey Carunana.
It was just as well the Cutters’ Campbell Grisan-Hodges brought his kicking boots because both teams scored four tries.
“We lost a goal kicker last week and Campbell just got back from COVID so we brought him and he repaid me with all those goals,’’ said Cutters coach Andy Battaia.
“We ground it out, fought hard and dominated possession and field position and the points started to come from there.’’
But he said fielding a smaller pack due to injuries, Pride started winning the tackles and got back into it.
Best for the Cutters was hooker Harrison Deguara who defended well, won tackles with the ball and was generally a calming influence.
Hayden Cumming was also outstanding at fullback, although he was moved into the halves late in the piece while Deguara’s back-up hooker John Bowman and No. 13 Kale Oliver shone.
For Northern Pride, Marley Helion was grand in moving to lock, while Ezekiel Ivey also shone.
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At Redcliffe, tries flowed as both benchmark teams exchanged points before the Dolphins got down to business, winning 28-20.
Hayden Shelford and Joseph Pouniu (Redcliffe) and Ryan Mccann and Benson Tau (Souths Logan) scored within the first 14 minutes before the Dolphins scored three in succession.
The Magpies’ Duquan Talaepa crossed late, but Redcliffe’s lead could not be breached.
“We knew Souths would be pretty much the benchmark,’’ said Redcliffe coach Chris Little.
“Our forwards, including our interchange, are working well together and they are learning to play simple footie, high percentage football.’
Little said dummy half Hayden Potts was outstanding. “He understands the game very well,’’ Little said.
Potts captained the team in the absence of regular skipper Prestyn Laine-Sietu who could be injured for the rest of the Connell Challenge competition.
“It was a good effort to dig deep without their captain,’’ Little said.
Souths Logan coach Ben Trim said it took his side 13 minutes into the second half to complete a set, which said a lot about the performance.
Despite this, prop Dirhys Sefo was enormous for the Magpies, while Benson Tau and Joseph Tapuse did well.
The Sunshine Coast Falcons burst away to a 44-6 win against the Clydesdales.
With fullback Christian Simpson, winger Tarell Indich, half Ellyjah Birve and prop Blaine Watson shining, the Falcons produced probably their best performance of the season.
“We started really well. Overall I am just pleased with the whole side. It is what we want them to do all of the time,’’ said coach Jack Dreger.
Clydesdales coach Scott Schultz said the defence was not good enough. “Our defence was not good enough today, the defence around the ruck – they just rolled through us,’’ he reflected.
He said Matthew Drews on the wing was his team’s best player.
In the clash between Ipswich Jets and the Bulls won by Ipswich, the Jets fired the engines early but found themselves stalling as Wide Bay closed in.
Jets lead 20-nil at the break, before winning 32-16.
“It was a very good 45 minutes but we clocked off for about 15 minutes and they almost got us halfway through the second half,’’ said Jets coach Jye Tuaimau-Gadsdon.
Daniel Cavanagh, Iliesa Baravilala and Thomas Morcom all scored for Bulls before Ipswich settled back into “our systems’’.
No. 13 Lachlan Coburn was again magnificent for Ipswich, while winger Volonte Baruani had a morale boosting match.
Ipswich finished the game with the last three tries – by Josiah Grey, Harlyn Westlake and Volonte Baruani.
The Bulls coach Craig Brough said defence let his side down.
“I think we have proven we can attack from anyone on the field, but defence let us down today,’’ Brough said.
He said at halftime he asked his side to concentrate “on one thing’’ which resulted in a recovery.
“But you can’t take anything away from Ipswich,’’ he said.
The Bulls coach said Thomas Morcom again impressed, while in the forwards Daniel Cavanagh was beat. “He went above and beyond and found his front,’’ coach Brough said.
HARVEY 19s
The Harvey 19s round of games started with a bang when Tweed Seagulls defeated Brisbane Tigers 28-20.
It was a thrilling game after Tweed had jumped the gun to score two tries by winger Madison Tavita in their opening sets.
But down 20-4 at halftime, the Tigers got back to 20-all after tries to Breez Haronga, Tahlia Marshall, Teataahia Kawana and Estanoa Faitala before Tweed seized a late win.
“Our side showed great character after being down 20-4 to get back to 20-all. But I think Tweed’s experience got us in the end,’’ said Tigers coach Paul Nieuwenhuyzen.
Tweed coach Lambros To’omaga-Herena-Timu said it was a fabulous game from both teams.
“It was a good, evenly matched game. It was a real grind,’’ he said.
“We got up early and then the Tigers made a good comeback to 20-all.
“I was proud of the way my team showed resilience toward the end come away with the goods.’’
Player of the match was arguably Tweed prop Jelena Betham who played the entire match. “That is a really tough thing to do,’’ To’omaga-Herena-Timu said.
Madison Tavita also crossed for three tries – including the winning try – while the Ratu sisters (Patepaeru and Chantay) were amazing. “They covered us everywhere today,’’ coach To’omaga-Herena-Timu said.
To’omaga-Herena-Timu said Netham and Tevita were great talents because this season was their first playing rugby league.
For the Tigers, Estanoa Faitala was tremendous, while skipper Shaylee Joseph led by example and Asthena Vili shone.
At Moreton Daily Stadium, the visiting Souths Logan Magpies scored in the first minute courtesy of Montaya Hudson and were never headed in a 52-10 win.
Dilyza Leugaimafa, Hudson, Lillian Kolb, Rialey Baty and Kiarah Siauane all scored first half tries, while Redcliffe’s Lenniece Wright scored a double.
Souths Logan coach Jury Te Tauri said it was a relief seeing the team’s combinations coming together and the girls one percentage plays.
“And it was also good just seeing the girls having a good time,’’ he said.
Outside back Lillian Kolb had a ripping match for the Magpies, as did forward Jaedynn Leger.
The best for Redcliffe were Lenniece Wright, Amy Bird and Eden Utatao.
At the North Ipswich Reserve, the Jets scored a six tries to two, 30-8 win over the Wide Bay Bulls.
Kim Lama Fetu scored early for Ipswich, while two tries in three minutes midway through the first half blasted the Jets into the lead.
Armarie Heron-Jia, Zebadiah Latu Mulumulu and Taya Beckers then added second half tries.
“The girls learned pretty quickly from last week and came out with the right attitude,’’ said co-coach Veronica White.
“Their support play was good and although it was a hot day, they worked in the conditions for each other.’’
She said the team’s goal line defence was also “awesome’’.
Halves Lynn Nielsen and Imogene Davidson combined beautifully, while Pauleeja Mau and Fuatino Ah-Him lead the charge upfront.
In Mackay, the Cutters’ girls had an exciting win over Northern Pride by 12-10.
A try by Pride’s Halia Pua in the second half edged her side to the brink of overtaking their rivals who had scored three tries courtesy of Gracie Watt, Jalen Pauling and Mersades Lawson.
In the late match, the Falcons and Clydesdales had an 18-all draw with the goal kicking of Sienna Norris proving the difference.
Sunshine Coast scored four tries to three, but Norris kicked three goals for Clydesdales.
Taya Chippendale scored late for Sunshine Coast to level the match.
“It was a great performance by both sides,’’ said Clydesdales coach Russell Jones.
“We are a very young side punching well above their weight and it was a super performance.’’
Clydesdale’s front rowers Katelyn Collie and Katelyn Anderson and hooker Bonnie Zappa shone, while Mackenzie Zeller and Ally Ramsay.
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