If You Come, They Will Build It

Yet another round of Qld Premier Rugby has come to a close and the competition is really heating up.
Sunnybank was back at Old Mac Oval this week, achieving a 26-14 win over Norths.
Uni was also at home and defeated the Sunshine Coast Stingrays 71-12.
Spectators at Chipsy Wood Oval witnessed a close game, with Wests just prevailing over Souths 25-17.
Brothers defeated the Gold Coast 48-27.
Qld Premier Rugby’s Game of the Round between Easts and GPS lived up to it’s prestigious tag, with a staggeringly close win being awarded to Easts, 22-18.
So this now brings teams closer together on the ladder and proves that the Premier Rugby competition never disappoints. Brothers will take the lead of the competition once again on 33 points. Uni will come in a close second, sitting pretty on 31 points. Easts will sit just one point behind Uni and GPS will sit one point behind Easts. So that’s the Top 4. But, with many upsets already being witnessed this season, it just goes to show that this competition really is anyone’s game. The committment and drive shown by every team in the competition is commendable and it’s why we all look forward to heading out on a Saturday afternoon to watch some rugby.
Stay tuned for a Round Preview on Friday, where I will look at all the games to be played in Round 9. Should be another stunner of a round.

Brothers v. Gold Coast Breakers

By Rebecca Thompson

Brothers are back to their winning ways, with a 48-27 win over the Gold Coast Breakers in Round Eight of the Premier Rugby Competition.

The Gold Coast started strong, maintaining much possession in the opening minutes. However, a scrum was awarded to Brothers and prop Iosefo Tabalala managed to score a five-pointer. After an unsuccessful conversion, Brothers held a 5-0 lead. Wishing to redeem themselves and get some points on the board, the Breakers fought to maintain possession and territory. Through a combination of handling errors from the Breakers and effective turnovers from Brothers, the home side was able to gain more ground away from enemy territory. From this, a try to Dylan Taikato-Simpson consolidated Brothers’ lead.

The Breakers kicked into gear and after a break from Vitori Tomu Buatava, the Gold Coast scored a try. Vitori Tomu Buatava’s successful conversion brought the score to 10-7. Minutes later, Brothers tried to capitalise on a line-out near their line, executing a rolling maul and a break from Charlie Freney. A penalty for not releasing the ball proved costly to Brothers as the ball was brought back from their line and the Breakers scored another successfully converted try, bringing the score to 14-10. A successful penalty kick to the Breakers demonstrated that they were a force to be reckoned with.

With Brothers feeling the pressure, fullback Damon Murphy scored a try, narrowing the Gold Coast’s lead to just two points. A further three points were awarded to the Gold Coast, extending the lead to 20-15.

In the final ten minutes of the first half Dylan Taikato-Simpson scored a try that levelled the score, making it a thrilling game for the spectators at Crosby Park. Achieving a hat-trick, Dylan Taikato-Simpson scored another try in the last two minutes of the half. Dallan Murphy’s successful conversion gave the Brethren a 27-20 lead going into the second half.

Brothers dominated the scoreboard in the second half, with the Gold Coast conceding three tries. Following a try from Luke Beauchamp in the opening minutes that brought the score to 34-20, Brothers set the pace for what would be a difficult second half for both sides. Joel Rapana’s successfully converted try gave Brothers a 21-point lead over the visitors.

In the 65th minute, Damon Murphy made a characteristic break and passed the ball to Simon Price, who scored a five-pointer right under the posts. Dallan Murphy’s conversion brought Brothers’ lead to a convincing 48-20.

Good defence from Brothers prevented a try after a 50-metre run from the Gold Coast. Minutes later, the Breakers’ attack prevailed, making the final score of the game 48-27.

Brothers will have their first away game in 4 weeks next week, heading up to the Sunshine Coast to take on the Stingrays. The Breakers will play host to Sunnybank at Albert Park.

GPS v. Easts

By Gillian Maddigan

Back to 3rd Tier this week and what a game to go to GPS home at Yoku Rd to East and wow what a step up in the plays and skills for the last games we have watched on the GC. Parking was terrible but suburban like going to Ballymore for Reds games in the distant past. Beautiful area, sun was shinning (always a bonus) and there was a great crowd of GPS and East supporters and vocal Yah! Great burgers with real salad beautiful.

My daughter and I had a bonus experience with meeting Raidke Samo before the game started as he was there to support his team. What a lovely man, quiet shy, but made time to talk to us about last nights game, the fundraising for Fiji and his Fro, of course. Got an awesome picture with my daughter.

Met up Juan Cote and watched a great level of play the game was fast and the ball handling was clean, may have had something to do with the dry weather or just good ball skills. The score was 10-3 to GPS with a runaway try to GPS winger converter and penalty.
East converted penalty after GPS lazy play at the ruck and had their Blindside flanker sent off 3mins before half time for some niggle in the ruck (some ones bum too close to his head maybe?). The second half was the most exciting as the game picked up in intensity and the so did the contact and niggle. East came back with three converted penalties and a converted try in the second half. To make it more exciting GPS converted a penalty even up the scores after some off the ball kissing of fists and Mr Potato Head angry eyes. Eventually the Loose head prop, did lose his head and after 3 off the ball contact events was sent to the bin 5mins from the end of the game and East took advantage and converted a penalty. The difference in the halves, I felt was the subs for both teams gave them the injection they needed.

Lots of feeling got in the way at times but great to watch as the sun disappeared and the cold crossed the field from the creek and crept up the grandstand. Time to go and make our way back to GC to watch the second half or the AB vs Rish game and prepare for another game of awe some Rugby!

By Shane Sullivan

A beautiful still winters afternoon in Brisbane saw us at Yoku Road to watch the Qld Premier Rugby Gps v. Easts game. And what a game it was! Both teams showed plenty of flair and determination to win and it wasn’t until the final whistle blew that we got a result.
GPS shot out to a 10-0 nil lead with an intercept try to winger Josh Logan with Fullback Pat Smith kicking the conversion and, shortly after, a penalty for hands in the ruck. It wasn’t until the 35th minute when blindside flanker Mogi Mei interfered with east halfback Josh Perry off the ball that East put some points on the board. Mei was able to watch the ensuing penalty fly between the post from the sinbin while he served his 10 minutes.
Easts came out in the second half with a new lease on life even getting the ball over the line on one occasion but except for a penalty have nothing to show for all their enterprise. And they’re giving away penalties! Unfortunately GPS have missed 2 out of their 3 second half kicks amd are only 7 points ahead at 13-6.
Easts 5/8 Matt Brandon is starting to carve up in the mid field and he slices through to set up a lovely try to even the scores with about 20 minutes to go.
Things are getting wil ling in contact now, both teams are desperate for the win the GPS forwards go off their feet in a ruck and Easts pot the penalty to lead for the first time in the game with what must be only minutes to go. East are trying to pin GPS deep in their half with long kicks but the GPS forwards are desperately working their way down field. They concede a ruck penalty and Brandon calmly steps up to take the points and the ref whistles full time. The final score was 18-22 to easts.
Beautiful day, great hamburger, cold beer, great company and a good game of rugby! If I’d won the meat tray it’d be perfect.

The Ladder

Team	Pld	Won	Lost	Drawn	Fft	Opp Fft	F	A	Df	BP <7p	BP 4t	Pts
Brothers	8	7	1	0	0	0	248	156	92	0	5	33
Easts	8	6	2	0	0	0	226	140	86	2	4	30
GPS	8	6	2	0	0	0	209	139	70	2	3	29
University of Queensland	7	5	2	0	0	0	240	170	70	1	5	26
Sunnybank	8	4	4	0	0	0	203	195	8	2	3	21
Wests	8	4	4	0	0	0	180	216	-36	1	0	17
Norths	8	2	6	0	0	0	175	251	-76	0	4	12
Souths	7	2	5	0	0	0	145	176	-31	1	2	11
Rugby Gold Coast	8	2	6	0	0	0	159	223	-64	1	1	10
Sunshine Coast Rugby Union	6	0	6	0	0	0	86	205	-119	0	0	0

Round 9 Matches

Home Team	versus	Away Team	Location	Time
Easts	v	University of Queensland	Easts / David Wilson Field	1500
Norths	v	Souths	Norths / Hugh Courtney Oval	1515
Rugby Gold Coast	v	Sunnybank	Rugby Gold Coast / Surfers Paradise RC, Albert Park	1500
Sunshine Coast Rugby Union	v	Brothers	Sunshine Coast Rugby Union / Stockland Park	1615
Wests	v	GPS	Wests / Sedgman Oval 1	1500

Join the conversation in the forum thread for Qld Premier Rugby . We’d love your input. Give us your thoughts on the game you attended and we will put it in next weeks post. Remember your #3rdtier hashtag when Tweet the games. And Remember

If You Come, They Will Build It