A second half charge from league leaders, colts round 3.
Another great round of Colts Rugby started with a great game at St Lucia with a 24-point second half charge proving too good for the league leaders.
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On a perfect day for Colts Rugby the old rugby cliche of a game of two halves rang true with UQ scoring 24 points in the second half to comeback and beat Souths at St Lucia.
The students fought hard with coach Derby Malaulau saying the key to his side’s second-half charge was playing with pace.
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The first half had it all, some daring play, supreme defence and some classic end-to-end rugby.
It was as tight as they come for the first 20 minutes with both sides chancing their hand and kicking well.
The Souths’ defence was the highlight as they defended on their line for 10 minutes without error.
The effort paid off with the side marching upfield with a clever box kick from scrum-half Kalani Thomas.
It was the visitors’ turn and UQ couldn’t replicate the defence that kept them scoreless, with No. 8 Bailey Tautau storming over from close range and fullback Meli Dreu converting.
A late penalty gave the visitors a 10-point lead at half time.
The second half continued as the first ended, with UQ again finding themselves in great field position with the help of a strong kicking game from fly half Declan Maguire.
Souths defended their line with grit once again but it was just a matter of time with lock George Gibson busting over 10 minutes into the half and Jasper Melish converting the try.
The arm wrestle would continue though with a penalty putting Souths into some rare field position.
A beautiful outside inside set play with the inside centre Tau Tuisamoa finding opposite winger Sebastian Hanna was a slick as it was effective.
The winger streamed through the gap, running 25m untouched with Meli Dreu converting, pushing the Souths lead back out to 10.
The game threatened to erupt with a yellow card to arguably Souths’ best Kalani Thomas for a professional foul for being deliberately off-side.
It didn’t take University long with dangerous winger Patrick Elekana scoring an athletic try in the left hand corner. The conversion missed taking the margin to just five.
The man down would prove costly with University playing expansive rugby and Joshua Russell found some space down the right hand side, scoring to tie the game up.
A lovely sideline conversion put the students in front with 7 minutes left.
The students continued to exploit their undermanned opposition with a strong maul putting hooker Jake Tierney over with just minutes left.
Final score, UQ 24-17.
UQ Coach Derby Malaulau said winger Josh Russell was the best on with a try, a great kicking game and some unselfish play.
“The second half we had to play at pace, when their halfback got sin binned it opened everything up,” Mr Malaulau said.
“I thought our ball security was okay, I though our contact area was good, we had a few issues with that last week so we tried to improve that today.
While Souths Coach Rama Chand loved the first half defensively, he said 24 points in the second half just wasn’t good enough.
“We’ve been in this position against top teams like Brothers in the trial and UQ we were up 10-nil and we knew they’d finish strong,” Mr Chand said.
“We knew what was coming it’s just probably our big thing today was our discipline let us down, not so much the penalties but individual decisions.
TRIES
University – George Gibson, Patrick Elekana, Joshua Russell, Jake Tierney.
Souths – Bailey Tautau, Sebastian Hanna.
CARDS
University
Souths – Kalani Thomas
BROTHERS V WESTS
In the Brothers – Wests clash, Ryan Shephard snatched victory for brothers with a dramatic last second try to snap a 19 all deadlock.
The scores were level after Wests had scored a try near the posts with minutes to play, however, the bulldogs kicker missed the kick from a handy position. From the restart, with the clock winding down, Wests mishandled the kick and Brothers received a fortunate bounce which lead to Shephard’s victorious run to the line.
It was an evenly fought clash that could have gone either way.
Brothers jumped the gun early scoring two tries but from that moment on, Wests gained parity and it was no surprise to see the match go down to the wire.
Brothers were helped in their pursuit of victory by a solid scrum performance.
BOND V EASTS
In another toss of the coin encounter, Bond University pipped Easts 21-19.
Two tries and just as importantly two conversions by Bond in the second half were enough to close out the game.
The match was evenly poised heading into the second half with the score settling at 7-5 Bonds way. Both sides found their attacking prowess in the second, however, scoring two tries a piece.
A late pounce for the line on the buzzer by Easts was not enough for them to claw their way back into the match already down by more than a converted try.
SUNNYBANK V GPS
Sunnybank broke through for their first win of the season leading the game from start to finish.
A 34 to 24 victory over GPS kickstarted the run home for Sunnybank as their backline rose to the occasion. Flyhalf and Captain Isaac Crone was a standout performer for Sunnybank, constantly finding space on the flanks for his outside backs.
The breakdown battle was impressive on both sides of the ball with both forwards packs aiming up at the ruck.
By the final whistle, Sunnybank were good enough to hold on despite a 14 point second half from GPS.