QLD Premier Rugby 2011

[spectator]

The 10 for the bank is Shalom Sunila, just returned from trialling for the RWC USA Eagles squad. He played 7's for the USA team. (Un)fortunately he missed selection.

Sunila has very light feet and caused Brothers a few headaches yesterday. I'd agree Bloodred, his combination with young Lucas probably shaded the Brothers pair on the day. Funny sort of game at Crosby Park. The first half was quite scrappy with a lot of dropped ball at key moments, and players on both teams finding space regularly. Shipperley had one or two trademark runs in the first half. I think Brothers need to involve him more in the coming weeks, maybe at 13, to get the best value from him as he is their most damaging runner. For the Bank, Setu was also finding space and Rex Tapuai was looking dangerous with ball in hand.

Brothers made a better fist of their opportunities resulting in a 15-3 lead at halftime. Dallan Murphy was controlling field position well and it looked like Brothers were going to cruise to another victory. The turnaround in the second half caught everyone by surprise. Sunnybank played with a lot of width and Ben Tapuai imposed himself on the game. The banks forwards gained the ascendancy with Reds Wallace-Harrison, Anae and Schatz to the fore, and got on the front foot allowing the backs to run riot and put points on the board.

Deserved win to Sunnybank and it does set up an interesting last three rounds.

 

[spectator]

With three rounds to go in the regular season it is down to five clubs. Brothers sit at the top with 60 points followed by Easts 59, Uni 58, Sunnybank 51 and GPS 49.

Easts have the toughest run in by far with games against Uni, Brothers and Sunnybank. None of the other chances play each other. It will be a tough ask for the Tigers but hopefully they're up to it.

Despite Brothers knocking Uni over a couple of weeks ago I think Uni deserve to be premiership favourites, and based on yesterday, Sunnybank to be the dark horse, with Lucas and Holmes set to rejoin the five other Reds in the team.

On another note, good to see Norths rack up their 3rd or 4th win in a row yesterday (v GC) and claim 6th spot on the ladder.

 

[tigerland12]

Tight game down at Bottomely. Both sides defended brilliantly throughout the game and it looked like GPS were going to sneak away with it when Pat Smith added a few penalty goals, but Easts put a massive amount of pressure at scrum-time, with once again Murphy and Bermingham putting alot of pressure on their opposites. Despite holding Easts out for about 5 minutes on their try line, the Gallopers cracked and Dom Fuller managed to get a great offload away to Matty Brandon to score under the posts.

For GPS I thought their best players was there openside and Pat Smith who had a great kicking game. For Easts, Jordie Tupou played strong with good ball carrying and a pest at the breakdown, but David Skelton was everywhere and was my man of the match.

On the GPS red card, from where I was watching it was deserved. I have no problems with the occasional fisticuffs but when a player tries to knee another during, no matter what the connection, he deserves to be sent. It's the same as eye-gouging, kicking ect in offences that deserve straight Reds.

 

[tranquility]

Jordie Tupou is the Australian schoolboys captain from a few years ago isn't he? Has he been injured?

 

[tigerland12]

Jordie Tupou is the Australian schoolboys captain from a few years ago isn't he? Has he been injured?

Yep that's him, he's bulked up alot since then. Played alot last year for Premiers and came back from injury half way through this season. He's in pretty decent form aswell.

 

[spectator]

Good to hear that Tupou is back. A backrow of Tupou, Bertini and Simcock is pretty handy. Also good to see Brandon back as he will be key to Easts fortunes going forward.

I see Fuller played. When does he go on the Force tour? Hope he still has a game or two before he goes.

Could be a good game at Uni this coming Saturday, might have to go for a peep.

 

[RugbyReg]

I think the Force go away this week

 

[Jets]

Leave on Wednesday according to Richard Graham's tweets.

 

[tigerland12]

Ben Daley was listed to play for the Gold Coast wasn't he? Did anyone watch that game/know if he did play?

 

[League Legend]

Anyone game to pick the make up of the final 4 with only 3 weeks to go. Any of the top five could win the comp on their day i reckon. Will be tough for the tigers given they finish playing uni, filth and sunnybank. Plenty of reds players playing should strengthen the comp

 

[spectator]

I would say Uni and Brothers are definite. Tigers only need to win one but they are all tough games. GPS to miss maybe?

 

[leakytap]

I would say Uni and Brothers are definite. Tigers only need to win one but they are all tough games. GPS to miss maybe?

GPS play Wests /Nths /Sths so the maximum points they can finish on is 64. Highly unlikely they'll lose all three games. Nths game the troublesome one I think.
Easts play Uni /Filth / Bank - finish between 59-74 points. If they only win one, they could miss out especially if it is not a BP win, GPS have worst differential though.
Uni play Easts /Wests /Nths - possible top 2 finish.
Filth play Rays /Easts /Wests - top 2 finish.
Bank play Breakers /Rays / Easts - any loss would be critical and will put them in danger of missing out of the semis.

 

[tigerland12]

I'll be honest, i only like writing match reports when Easts win haha. Poor display out at St Lucia, forwards were dominated leaving the backline helpless.

Davies and Morahan were clinical in their try finishes, whilst McDuling was devastating, my man of the match.

 

[tranquility]

I have never seen McDuling play, but from almost every match report he is a standout and dominant force. He also sounds as if he plays a tight game, so it is impressive that is able to make such an impression. Glad we signed him up.

 

[spectator]

If Uni doesn't win the premiership then it will be a damn good side that beats them to it. Easts were actually in the game for the best part of the first half but Uni blew them off the park in the last 40 minutes. Rod Davies was superb! Not only showcased his speed, scoring three tries, but he also demonstrated that he has a couple of other skills and laid on some pretty special passes. Morahan and Kuridrani (?) were a massive centre pairing and cut the Tigers up repeatedly. As T12 says McDuling was great. He played at 6 and really impressed. Great signing for the Reds.

Hopefully Easts erase that game from the memory bank because it doesn't get easier next week against Brothers.

 

[Cat_A]

Agreed Spectator- who knew outside backs could pass like that??

Uni were actually down 13-6 at halftime running with the breeze, but put on 51 unanswered 2nd half points. There was a 4 try blowout in the last 10 min, but by that time the damage had been done. All the same, most of the game was actually closer than the scoreline suggested. Although the backs scored the majority of tries, they couldn't do that without the hard work of the forwards who are becoming a more cohesive unit each game.

It's been a real challenge over the past few weeks to have the traditional 2 training sessions ahead of the game. Our new Brumbies have been in camp in Sydney (getting flogged), flying down on Monday & back on Thursday morning, while our Wallaby squad boys (40 man) were in camp and have been doing other training sessions during the week ever since (getting flogged). When 6 players in key positions are unavailable to train until Thursday (2,9,13,14,15) you're limited. We trained once on Friday night this week as a team.

I think this can be seen in previous games (eg:Brothers) where it's been mentioned that Uni were dominant, just couldn't convert it on the scoreboard, with last-passes going wayward, and errors costing possession. It was also obvious in yesterday's game where the first half saw poor discipline & execution at crucial times, while in the second half Uni were better able to convert the opportunities.

 

[League Legend]

Sorry Cat A but uni were actually wining at halftime thanks to 2 quick tries against the run of play just before the break. The tigers were in the game right up untill that point and were limiting the opportunities of the star studded university team. However they made small costly errors, had a poor kicking game and lapses in concentration at times which a good team like uni will make you pay, and pay the tigers did. Davies showed his class and Morahan was definitely a prescence however i did think kuridrani the big 12 was quiet. Uni have class across the field and have no weak points at all. It will have to be a good team on the day and a good game plan to beat them this year. Which brings me to the point about Cat A complaining about not being able to train as a team because their players are tied up in professional set ups. I'm sure if you asked most coaches in club land if they would like that problem i'm sure they would jump at it. While Easts are looking to the lower grades to fill spots due to injury and unavailabilty Uni have the luxury ( or "challenge" as some suggest) of looking to the Reds, Brumbies and even Wallabies to fill positions, e.g ian prior replacing jono lance. But Looking from the outside in thats the good thing about the tigers, they just get on with the job without complaining and to still be in finals contentiion 2 weeks out is remarkable. They have fielded about 45 players in Premier grade this season. thats 3 teams. Bring on the filth this Sunday.

 

[Cat_A]

Sorry LL - my mistake about the score. paying attention to that side of things is definitely not my strong suit.

Also didn't ean to make it sound like I was complaining about something that, as you rightly pointed out, any club would love. I simply wanted to highlight an unusual hurdle I hadn't anticipated - the club hasn't been in this position in my entire time there and I thought it was noteworthy. Apologies for sounding like a whinger/wanker.

Couldn't agree more that Easts have been the story of the season - to still be in contention with that injury toll is incredible & indicative of good coaching and players who are responding well. And I wouldn't be a Uni supporter if I didn't barrack for you guys against the Filth this weekend.

 

[tigerland12]

Quick, let's get off the topic of having Rep players before the "clubs paying players" arguements come up again

 

[keeping it real]

I have heard that the QRU have kept bck part of the premier club grants to pay for the club finals at Ballymore. Is this true ?