THE Souths Logan Magpies have thrust themselves into Finals contention with a comfortable win over the Mackay Cutters at BB Print Stadium Mackay on Saturday night.
The victory saw the Magpies climb to the crucial six position on the Intrust Super Cup ladder, whilst condemning Mackay to the 2016 wooden spoon in the process.
Souths Logan couldn’t have dreamed of a better start to the game, stamping their authority instantly with a 40/20 off the opening set. They created pressure quickly on the Mackay defence, and a short ball to Herman Ese’ese saw him stroll into a gap to opening the scoring for the visitors.
The pain didn’t end there for the home side either, a knock on coming out of their own end gave Souths Logan a chance for more points, and they didn’t waste it when Dan Tamou all but walked through the Cutters defensive line to extend the lead to 10 after just five minutes of play.
Desperately needing to respond the Cutters took to the air to find points, Andrew Davey fielding a towering midfield bomb before popping a pass to an unmarked John Asiata who dot down under the posts to get the Cutters back in the game.
With the wind in their sails the Cutters were throwing everything they had at the Magpies, and with the try line looming they looked certain to score as the ball was fired out wide to Tautau Moga, but Scott Doyle had other plans as he stuck a hand out and intercepted the pass, racing all 100 metres to score as Kepa and Pereira failed to bring him down.
Doyle then doubled his money in the shadows of halftime as the Cutters goal line defence was stretched to breaking point and he was found unmarked on the overlap, sliding across in the corner to give Souths Logan a 22-6 lead at the break.
Despite their comfortable lead Souths Logan weren’t about to let their foot off the gas as the second half commenced, Sam Scarlett inflicting more pain on the hosts as he cashed in on a misfielded grubber kick to the in goal to increase the Magpies lead further.
Mackay were able to stem the flow a short time later, Josh Chudleigh found himself on the end of some good ball movement and scything through the Magpies defence to finally answer back for the home team.
But the Magpies were proving a class above, and they went about icing the game as Dan Russell muscled his way over to score, before Leon Panapa latched onto a deflected grubber kick to the in goal to bring up 40 points for Souths Logan.
The game may have been out of reach, but the Cutters were determined to give their fans one last thing to cheer about in the final home game of the season.
Jordan Pereira got himself a deserving four pointer, scoring an athletic try as he flew through the air to ground a grubber kick, before Yosepha Kepa found a gap in the Souths Logan defence and flew 60 metres to score untouched.
But it was pure consolation for Mackay as the Souths Logan Magpies left BB Print Stadium victorious, the final score 40 points to 22.
Scoring details:
SOUTHS LOGAN MAGPIES 40 (Scott Doyle 2, Herman Ese’ese, Dan Tamou, Sam Scarlett, Dan Russell, Leon Panapa tries; Scott Doyle 6 goals) def MACKAY CUTTERS 22 (John Asiata, Josh Chudleigh, Jordan Pereira, Yosepha Kepa tries; Liam Taylor 2, John Asiata goals) at BB Print Stadium, Mackay.
See the full scoring details and final team line-ups for this game via QRL Live
