The Wynnum Manly Seagulls rolled home with 30 unanswered points in the second half to make it three wins in a row as they defeated the Central Queensland Capras 36-14 yesterday.
Capras’ talisman Matt Minto put on a classy display in the first half as the visitors out enthused Wynnum Manly to take a 14-6 lead at the break.
However at halftime, Seagulls’ coach Jon Buchanan urged his charges to play to their strengths by being more direct in running the football and utilising their big forward pack in the middle of the park.
His address yielded immediate dividends as the Gulls came out of the sheds with explosive carries and taking control back with two tries within 10 minutes of returning from the break.
Both tries were scored by utility John Te Reo who continued his rich vein of form with four tries in two weeks and the Chook Pen was treated to more of his trademark ball spike celebrations.
Central Queensland coach Lionel Harbin was pleased with his side’s showing early in the match, but understood it was always going to be a tough assignment for the Capras who fielded five teenagers.
“Wynnum Manly have a core group that have been together a long time. We’re a young side that’s still learning to play at this level and are probably a year or two away from being competitive.”
The coach in his first season at the Capras would take a lot of positives from the first half where Minto took advantage of blustery conditions to terrorise the Seagulls’ back three with an aerial display.
The half was the dominant factor in the opening 40 minutes as he pulled the strings on the right edge to set up the opening two tries.
The first came from an out ball to back rower Tyson White and in the second he hit centre Tarrant Mariner with an early pass, beating multiple defenders to have the visitors up 10-0 after 15 minutes.
The introduction of Gulls’ forward Brendon Gibb temporarily lifted the home side as he charged through the line from 35m out to score a powerful try on his first touch.
But the opening 40 minutes would belong to Minto as he lay on a deft chip which the Gulls struggled to contain and fullback Reece Baker swooped in to cement the Capras’ lead at the break.
Buchanan then turned the key and fired up the Gulls’ engine as his team looked a much different side in the second half.
Te Reo was the difference maker as he busted over twice from dummy half to wrestle the lead back for his side at 18-14.
Half turned fullback Patrick Templeman played a key role in the next three tries to extend Wynnum Manly’s lead.
First he swept out the back of a left side movement to feed Mitchell Buckett for a try before performing the same play and this time holding the ball to go over himself.
Finally Matt Grieve was a beneficiary of a long Templeman cutout ball to cross in the right corner.
Matt’s brother Jon scored in the final minutes to complete the second half Gulls’ shut out.
WYNNUM MANLY SEAGULLS 36 (John Te Reo 2, Matthew Grieve, Mitchell Buckett, Patrick Templeman, Jon Grieve, Brendon Gibb tries; Mathew Seamark 4 goals) def CQ CAPRAS 14 (Reece Baker, Tarrant Mariner, Tyson White tries; Josh Mitchell goal) at BMD Kougari Oval.
Final Teams:
Wynnum Manly Seagulls: 1. Matthew Seamark 2. Peter Gubb 3. Matthew Grieve 4. Mitchell Buckett 5. Greg Eden 6. Patrick Templeman 7. Matthew Smith 8. Ben Shea 9. Alehana Mara 10. Tim Natusch (c) 11. David Stagg 12. Jon Grieve 13. Mitchell Frei 14. John Te Reo 15. Brendon Gibb 16. Aaron Rockley 17. Tanu Wulf
CQ Capras: 1. Reece Baker 2. Jake Ainsworth 3. Marco Delapena 5. Tarrant Mariner 6. Matt Minto 7. Josh Mitchell 8. Gerard Tema 9. Mark Johnstone 10. Gavin Hiscox 11. Tyson White 12. Guy Williams (c) 14. Dean McAdam 16. Rajan Opetaia- Halls 17. Corbyn Kilday 18. Aaron Watson 19. Sam Smith 20. Josh Johnston
