Surfers Paradise co-coach Marius van der Nist to miss next three months of Gold Coast rugby

Surfers Paradise co-coach Marius van der Nist believes his side’s tense win over Gold Coast Eagles in his last game at the helm for at least three months will do them wonders.

SURFERS Paradise co-coach Marius van der Nist believes his side’s tense win over Gold Coast Eagles in his last game at the helm for at least three months will do them wonders.

A runaway try set up by a James Crisp flick pass late in the second half sealed a 15-12 victory for the Dolphins at James Overell Park on Saturday.

Van der Nist expressed his disappointment about a number of penalties against his team but was pleased they pulled through.

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“It was just an arm wrestle. Some games are going to be high scoring, some not,” he said.

“This was just one of those extremely close encounters. Again our structures were great. We were just blown out of the football game.

Surfers Paradise scrumhalf James Crisp offloads under pressure from Eagles player Shoma Okubo. Picture: Richard Gosling

“I think we were definitely the better team, we scrummed them to shreds and then our hooker got injured so our prop had to throw in the lineouts which changed the game dramatically.

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“At halftime I walked up to these guys and said ‘look, let’s believe in our structures, believe in our fitness, believe in what we are as a team and let’s go and win the game’.

“These type of wins will set them up much greater than a 50-point win.”

Marius van der Nist (middle) with Darren Uys and Surfers director of coaching Kris Burton. Picture: Tertius Pickard.

Van der Nist will on Friday head to the United States for his life coaching and public speaking career as well as his Las Vegas-based golf business but hopes to return Down Under in late July in time for semi-finals.

Darren Uys and Rangi Joseph will act as the club’s dual coaches.

Despite the outcome, the match was by far the Eagles’ best performance of the season.

Eagles lock Angus Blake is tackled by Surfers No.8 Jono Makris (right). Picture: Richard Gosling

Over at Pizzey Park, Griffith University Colleges continued the strong start to their Gold Coast District Rugby Union title defence with a 48-5 win over Bond Pirates.

The scoreline itself was a step forward from last year for the Pirates, who twice had Colleges pile 100 points on them in 2018.

“There is definitely huge improvement,” said Pirates coach Lincoln Matehaere.

“Where we improved was with our discipline on the field … we have cut down on the penalties against us.

“They are really believing in themselves that they can do it. We just need to be a bit more focused and things will start to fall into place.”