After a close 18-19 loss to Northern Pride last weekend in the FOGS Under 20s Cup, Easts Tigers coach Ian Gough said his team was getting ready to learn from their mistakes and move on.
Kyle Jones, Lachlan Foulds and Vesi Sa’u all scored tries, but each were answered by the Pride with tries from Rhy Young, Jacob Wallace and Cody-John Clark.
In the end, the game was decided by a field goal in the 69th minute by the Pride’s Jack Campagnolo.
Gough said while he was happy with how his team performed in terms of their defence and through the middle; when they went away from their game plan, the Pride were able to take crucial points away.
Ball control has been a key focus for the team going into their next matchup this weekend.
“We didn’t do a lot wrong, but when we were wrong, we were at the wrong end of the field,” Gough said.
“Hopefully we take something out if it, we probably didn’t control as much of the footy as we probably should have in the second half, which cost us dearly in the end.”
The Tigers now have a road trip to Townsville planned for Saturday. Travel outside of southeast Queensland is a new experience for much the squad, as this is the first time a statewide tournament has been staged for this age group.
“It’s a good experience for the boys, we just need to make sure we prepare pretty well this week,” Gough said.
The Blackhawks are coming off a close loss against Redcliffe last weekend and will be aiming up in front of their home crowd.
With five-eighth Oscar Carter sitting in the top five leading point scorers for the competition so far with 34 points, they have enough firepower to worry opposition sides.
“We should get back to training, heads down and bums up this week and get ready to go,” Gough said.
“It will be tough out there, but we really need to get up there and put a good 70-minute performance and get some points.”
The Tigers play the Blackhawks on Saturday, April 1 at Jack Manski Oval at 2pm, while elsewhere this weekend a game to look out for will be the Sunday afternoon showdown between the Tweed Heads Seagulls and Souths Logan Magpies.
The Mackay Cutter have the bye.
Follow the scores for all the FOGS Under 20 Cup games this weekend at QRL Live.
