The 700km back to Ipswich from Charleville will seem like an eternity for the Ipswich Jets while the Bears’ 800km journey home to Burleigh it will seem like ducking down to the shops.
The Bears took an imposing record against the Jets into this Round 20 Country Round fixture at the Charleville Showgrounds.
It was 2013 when the Jets last beat the Bears, who couldn’t have started this clash any better.
Lachlan Burr, Kurtis Rowe and Luke Page all scored before a quarter of the game had lapsed.
Three tries in the first 12 minutes and an 18-0 lead would have been exactly what Bears coach Jimmy Lenihan had called for all week.
Jets fight back
It took for the 16th minute for the Ipswich Jets to strike back and start to turn the poor start around.
Michael Purcell scored his 10th try in game 11 for the Ipswich Jets while Wes Conlon scored try number 15 to get the Jets moving towards a comeback.
At 18-10 the Jets seemed to have wrestled back some momentum and got themselves back into the game.
Bears counter
The Bears had other ideas when, in what would prove a pivotal 10-minute period just before and after half-time, Waka Wanahi and then Pat Politoni scored to move the half-time score to 30-10.
What could have been a positive half-time for the Jets was now back to being a hard slog.
While Lenihan wanted more of the same in the second half.
Confidence cruelled
The Jets were still upbeat and confident they could score first to get back in the game but Bears hooker Cameron Cullen had other plans for the afternoon.
That try meant the Bears had scored three tries from the 34th minute to the 42nd minute and now had an imposing 26-point lead.
Try spree
The importance of that 10-minute period would be further enhanced when the Jets would score the next three tries with Liam Capewell, Michael Purcell and Hayden Lipp scoring to get the Jets back to 38-26.
The Intrust Super Cup’s leading point scorer Jamal Fogarty would add a further 18 points to his tally and bring up his 200th point for 2016 with two penalty goals.
Final flourish
Waka Wanahi would finish his double with seconds to full-time and end the Bears trip to Charleville 46-26.
For the Jets Michael Purcell scored two tries and was a threat all day, while Richard Pandia was exceptionally strong.
For the Bears Jamal Fogarty was again consistent and got his big forwards around the field.
Next match
The Jets will travel to PNG to take on the Hunters while the Bears will take on the Pride.
> Final teams and scorers at QRL Live
BURLEIGH BEARS 46 (Waka Wanahi 2, Lachlan Burr, Kurtis Rowe, Luke Page, Pat Politoni, Cameron Cullen tries; Jamal Fogarty 9 goals) def IPSWICH JETS 26 (Michael Purcell 2, Wes Conlon, Liam Capewell, Haydan Lipp tries; Haydan Lipp 3 goals) at Charleville Showgrounds.
