The Souths Magpies have produced a dominant performance to defeat Easts by 39-12, putting a wrap on a remarkable run of sudden death footy over recent weeks. Entering the final round of the preliminary competition in fifth spot, the Magpies have had to win every match or face elimination from the competition.
Souths produced two remarkable last minute victories in the final series to reach the Grand Final, yet came out firing today at Ballymore scoring four tries in the first half to all but eliminate any hope the Minor Premiers, Easts, had of claiming their second title in two years.
Queensland Reds backline star Chris Feauai-Sautia claimed the Tony Shaw Medal, as the player of the match, and there is no doubt his two tries, the first for his team in the match, gave the Magpies almost unbackable confidence as they moved forward. All afternoon the team from Chipsy Wood Oval played with confidence and aggression that completely nullified any chance Easts had of claiming the title.
Feauai-Sautia’s back-to-back tries were soon followed by two more on the verge of half time to the flying Mike Tela on the wing, as Souths drove the nail into an ailing Easts coffin. A 28-0 half time lead left many rugby fans, from both teams, in a somewhat state of shock.
It was a clinical first 40 minutes by the Magpies as they preyed on any Tiger mistake and physically dominated in both attack and defense. All season Souths have excelled at capitalising on the opposition’s mistakes and with Easts putting in a particularly error-ridden performance, Souths were in their element.
The second half took some time to get going and for a period it looked like Easts might be a chance of clawing their way back. A strong try by Tiger prop AJ Campbell perhaps provided a glimmer of hope. Skipper Jack Mullins seemed to decide to take the game on himself and really lifted dramatically to be a constant danger to Souths. However when his opposite number Scott Malolou kicked a penalty with twelve minutes to go, even Mullins would have grasped the reality of it all.
Whilst Matt Gordon would barge his way over for a try soon after, a return effort from the inform outside-back Stephen Van Der Walt for Souths, his tenth for the season, would secure the win and the Magpies first Premiership for fifteen years.
Whilst Feauai-Sautia was the official man of the match, it was one of those occasions where seemingly each Magpie outdid his opposite number. Of particular prominence were the backrow combination of Anton Minenko, Simana Halafonou and James Turner who were simply awesome in all aspects across the park.
For the Tigers, Andrew Ready played his heart out at hooker, blindside Tyrell Barker recovered from an early yellow card to show off his excellent lineout abilities, and Mullins lead by example, particularly in the second half.
But all in all this was a team performance where a game plan was executed and executed exceptionally. Souths did the little things well and this enabled them to play with a level of confidence that created constant opportunities. What it also meant was that Easts were almost completely shut out of the game in the first half. They had barely any quality ball, and any they did was quickly turned over and punished.
In a wonderful day of club rugby, enthusiastically supported by a crowd of 8,403, Souths coach Brett Picone was soaking up the performance.
“I’m a bit stunned at the moment, but I knew we hadn’t played well for 80 minutes all year so I was hoping we were saving it for this game and we came out and we were pretty good. It’s a massive win for the club and a massive win for the boys, it’s been a great year. As you can see by this crowd and they are still hanging around it means a real lot,” said Picone.
A fitting finish to a memorable season for all involved and one that will be long celebrated as countless renditions of “A Magpie for me” echo around Yeronga in Brisbane’s south this Sunday night.
Scorers: Souths 39 (M Tela C Feauai- Sautia 2 tries S Van Der Walt try S Malolua 2 pens 4 cons) defeated Easts 12 (A Campbell M Gordon tries M Brandon con)
All photo credit: QRU/Sportography.
