If you’re all feeling a sense of déjà vu leading into next week’s finals, I don’t blame you. The top four for the 2012 Queensland Premier Rugby competition is the same as last year and events have played out very much like last year. For the second year running and in a similar fashion, Easts’ finals hopes were dashed as a result of their 36-22 loss to Uni. GPS have shown that they’re a force to be reckoned with leading into next week’s semi against Sunnybank with a 52-3 win against Wests. In turn, Sunnybank had a very convincing 53-10 victory against the Gold Coast. Souths came from behind at half time to narrowly beat Norths 29-26. Last but not least, Brothers have taken the Minor Premiership for 2012 with a 44-5 win against the Sunshine Coast.
It has been a very interesting season with plenty of upsets and great wins from all teams. It’s hard to believe that it’s finals time already. Next week, we turn our attention to Ballymore with semi finals spanning the duration of the weekend. On Sunday at 3:05, the minor semi final between Sunnybank and GPS will certainly be one to watch. The winner of this game continues onto the preliminary final the following week. 5:30 will see Brothers and Uni battle it out for an advancement into the grand final. Uni will be looking for redemption after losing to Brothers in the final minutes of last year’s major semi final. The stage is well and truly set for an exciting next few weeks of rugby. Bring it on!
Here’s the report from Brothers v Sunshine Coast….
Brothers have stormed their way into the major semi-final and have won the Minor Premiership with a convincing 44-5 win over the Sunshine Coast. After displaying fiery performances in both defence and attack, they have had a confidence boost leading into the finals.
The Stringrays started strong, with centre Sean Dixon putting the first points on the board in the opening minutes. This was cause for Brothers to switch into gear after play resumed and Dylan Taikato-Simpson made a characteristic break for the try-line. The Sunshine Coast’s defence was solid in some parts and an intercept of the ball after Taikato-Simpson’s break showed that they were very much in the game. A low-scoring first half was demonstrative of each side’s strong displays of defence.
Sunshine Coast coach John Rangihuna was proud of his team’s performance against the minor premiers. “I think the boys tried really hard. It’s been an atrocious year with injuries and we pretty much had a reserve grade side out there today and they really had a dig.”
The Stingrays’ defence had some strong moments, with Sean Dixon executing some good intercepts from Brethren ball fumbles.
Brethren captain Nathanuel Gendle had a good game, managing a hat-trick and being vocal in attack and defence throughout the game.
The combination of numerous breaks and the capitalisation on the Sunshine Coast’s handling errors was cause for four tries to go in favour of the Brethren in the second half. These tries were in the space of fifteen minutes and were a real treat for the spectators at Crosby Park. Coach Rangihuna praised his side’s determination during this time, “Even though there were fifteen minutes where they put four tries on us, I think they gave it their all and the effort was there and that is what really matters.”
The final ten minutes of the game saw the Brethren briefly clock off, with some being penalties awarded to the Sunshine Coast due to some handling errors from the home side.
Brothers turned this moment of weakness around and were able to finish strong and officially claim the minor premiership with a try to strong-performing winger Dylan Taikato-Simpson in the last two minutes.
Brothers coach Matt Kaye now looks forward to the major semi final against University next week, “I think we had a really strong performance today and we’re really well-prepared for next week. Everyone’s fired up for the finals.”
