The much-anticipated Welsby Cup match between first and second-placed Brothers and Easts lived up to its prestigious tag. Both teams played with guts and determination and Brothers earned a hard-fought 28-17 victory over the Tigers.

In other games, the Sunshine Coast received their first win of the season, narrowly defeating the Gold Coast 26-22. GPS achieved a very convincing win over Norths by winning 30-3. Souths beat reigning Premiers Sunnybank 31-26 whilst Uni came out on top over Wests, winning 13-8.

As each week goes by, the finals keep getting closer and closer. At this stage of the competition, it is really tight at the top and proves that it can be anyone’s game. What will the coming weeks bring for our stellar Premier Grade Competition? Only time will tell…

Until then, you can keep up to date with all the Premier Rugby news by using this link: http://www.redsrugby.com.au/PremierRugby.aspx

On this page, you can look at the ladder for each grade competition to see where your club is placed. There’s also detailed match reports which look at each game and include what coaches were thinking after the match. Happy trawling!

Brothers v Easts.

The much-anticipated Welsby Cup clash between Easts and Brothers didn’t disappoint, with Brothers achieving a hard-fought 28-17 victory over Easts.

Easts were on a mission to maintain possession of the Cup after last year’s victory over Brothers and showed strong displays of attack from the onset, testing Brothers’ stellar defence.

Brothers demonstrated consistently strong team work, combining their skills to stop several Easts players just short of the line and gain more territory. Despite this, it was a frustrating first half for Brothers, with Dallan Murphy’s boot being the sole points provider. Brothers attempted to capitalise on some handling errors from Easts but Easts’ defence proved too strong.

Brothers coach Matt Kaye noted a need for improvement, “Even though it was great to get the win and it’s great that we’re still on the top of the table, we just need to keep improving every week and we’ll work on the holes that showed in our performance today.”

Australian Sevens player Shannon Walker proved to be an integral part of the Easts side, scoring the only try of the first half. His speed and effective attack made him a standout player in the game.

The pace picked up in the second half, with both teams putting more points on the board as the presentation of the much-coveted Welsby Cup loomed. Easts’ defence slightly weakened, conceding three tries in the second half. Coach Pat Richards acknowledged his team’s overall strong performance but also believes that improvement is needed, “I’m still confident as finals get closer but ultimately Brothers was the better side today and we can learn from the experience.”

Coach Kaye also has the finals in his sights, “I’m definitely confident going into the rest of the season but once again, improvement is a necessity in order to get to the finals.”

The presentation of the Welsby Cup to Brothers added to the buzzing atmosphere of the large home crowd, with Ladies Day coinciding with the encounter.

Brothers will move away from Crosby Park next week, being hosted by an ever-strengthening Wests side and Easts will play the Gold Coast Breakers.

Brothers 28 (Dallan Murphy, Luke Beauchamp 2 tries, Dallan Murphy 3 pen, 1 con) defeated Easts (Shannon Walker, Andrew Parker tries, Matt Brandon 1 pen, 2 con)

 GPS v Norths

Match review here

Round 10 Results

Home Team	Score	versus	Away Team	Score	Location
Brothers	28	v	Easts	17	Brothers / Jack Ross Oval
GPS	30	v	Norths	3	GPS / Yoku Road
Sunnybank	26	v	Souths	31	Sunnybank / Old Mac Oval
Sunshine Coast Rugby Union	26	v	Rugby Gold Coast	22	Sunshine Coast Rugby Union / Stockland Park
University of Queensland	13	v	Wests	8	Ballymore / Ballymore 1

Round 11 Matches

Home Team	versus	Away Team	Location	Match Time
Norths	v	University of Queensland	Norths / Hugh Courtney Oval	1515
Rugby Gold Coast	v	Easts	Rugby Gold Coast / Surfers Paradise RC, Albert Park	1500
Souths	v	GPS	Souths / Chipsy Wood Oval	1500
Sunshine Coast Rugby Union	v	Sunnybank	Sunshine Coast Rugby Union / Stockland Park	1400
Wests	v	Brothers	Wests / Sedgman Oval 1	1500

The Ladder after round 10

Team	PLayed	Won	Lost	Drawn	For	Against	Df	BP <7p	BP 4t	Points
Brothers	10	9	1	0	314	178	136	0	6	42
University of Queensland	10	7	3	0	353	229	124	1	7	36
GPS	10	7	3	0	259	169	90	3	4	35
Easts	10	7	3	0	282	197	85	2	5	35
Sunnybank	10	5	5	0	302	232	70	3	5	28
Wests	10	5	5	0	215	249	-34	2	0	22
Souths	9	4	5	0	217	219	-2	1	4	21
Norths	10	2	8	0	195	322	-127	0	4	12
Rugby Gold Coast	10	2	8	0	187	322	-135	2	1	11
Sunshine Coast Rugby Union	9	1	8	0	129	336	-207	0	1	5

Join the conversation in the forum thread — we’d love your input. Give us your thoughts on the game you attended and we’ll put it in next week’s post. Remember your #3rdtier hashtag when tweeting the games, and check out the 3rdTier Facebook page.

And remember: If You Come, They Will Build It.