Northern Pride and Burleigh Bears have played the game of the year in potential grand final preview

The Northern Pride have put the Hostplus cup on notice after a come-from-behind win over premiership favourites Burleigh Bears.

Ewan Moore of the Northern Pride in action on Saturday at Barlow Park. Picture Emily Barker.

The Northern Pride have put the Hostplus cup on notice after a come-from-behind win over premiership favourites Burleigh Bears.

In what was described as a potential grand final preview, the Pride kept the Bears scoreless in a half since their opening round loss to the Devils.

The Pride overcame some costly mistakes in the second half to claim the two points with a 22-16 win at Barlow Park.

Pride Prop Ash Little said it really was a tail of two halves.

“We came in at half time and spoke about what we had to do and I think we did that pretty well,” Little said.

“We finished off the back half of the first and the second half pretty well.

“Credit to the boys they dug deep in the end when they were plateauing, we were still moving forward.”

Northern Pride players celebrate after Ewan Moore’s game winning try against Burleigh Bears at Barlow Park. Picture Emily Barker.

A costly mistake inside the first two minutes gave up a try with Burleigh’s Troy Leo picking cleaning and running just shy of the full length of the field to get the game underway.

“We knew they were going to be tough, they are the benchmark of the competition,” Little said.

“We just got back behind the line and flushed it and started it again.

“It was just a silly error but I thought we had done that pretty well (resetting).

“I think all three of their tries were a bit of luck with the bounce of the ball.

“But we bounced back pretty well after that I thought.”

The game was sitting on a knifes edge in the second half as Pride’s Lachlan West levelled the scoring with a try and a conversion by Thomas Duffy.

For the next 15 minutes, the game continued to go back and forth while both sides struggled to break the defensive line.

The Pride looked likely to score on multiple occasions but the strong defensive line of the Bears held strong before it Ewan Moore who broke it on the far side to deliver the match winning try.

Kicker Thomas Duffy sealed the game with a penalty goal with four minutes to go, putting them up by eight points.

Winger Nat McGavin play a vital role when defending in the second half while still being able to use his run and carry on offence as the Pride closed the gap.

“Smithy (coach Eric Smith) said to us to keep to our processes,” McGavin said.

“We worked on our line work this week to nullify their attack.

“Smithy had a good game plan for their shape and (it) worked and we kept them scoreless in the second half.”

The Pride remain undefeated at home with four big wins and have set up their back half of the season with six of the last nine games at home.

“Full credit to the boys, everyone is working for each other and working really hard for each other,” McGavin said.

“100 per cent we are happy to have the record at home.

“But we just have to keep focused on the job at hand.

“And again full credit to the boys and the coaching staff.”

The Pride travel to Toowoomba to play Clydesdales on Sunday June 16 before a string of three home games at Barlow Park.

Originally published as Northern Pride and Burleigh Bears have played the game of the year in potential grand final preview