Tweed Heads fought their way back from a 16-0 deficit against the CQ Capras to post back-to-back wins for the first time this season with a 36-28 result.
The Capras opened this afternoon’s home clash with fire and brimstone and had the visitors on the back foot right from the start.
They showed their intentions straight away with their big men dominating the middle of the park and the backs spinning the ball freely.
Prop Oliver Percy opened the scoring early when he received a lovely offload from fellow prop Matt Groat who had three defenders to contend with and somehow still managed to squeeze the ball out for his front row partner to charge over. Cody Grills converted and it was 6-0.
The Tweed Heads restart went out on the full and in the set that followed, Ken Tofilau made them pay when he scored out wide after a movement started by livewire hooker Krys Freeman was continued by Reece Baker and Justin Tavae.
When Tofilau dotted down, the Capras were leading 10-0 after only 6 minutes.
Guy Williams scored in the 32nd minute after more fantastic work by Freeman who took the ball from dummy half and wrong-footed the defence before finding his captain who was to strong and crashed over on the right. Grills converted and it was 16-0 to the home side with seven minutes to go in the half.
With Capras bookends Percy (23rd minute) and Groat (25th minute) both on the bench; the Capras looked a far less dangerous team minus their two big men and Tweed capitalised after regaining parity in the middle of the field.
The last two tries of the half both went to Tweed Heads, the first to winger David Sheridan who in his return to the competition took a “cheeky” intercept and scorched 95m for the first.
The second try however was just spectacular; the ball flew from Sam Saville to John Olive, who delivered the final pass to Peter Lee to dive over in the corner as the siren sounded.
The two teams went to the sheds with the Capras leading 16-8, but the momentum had well and truly swung against them.
The Gulls continued their dominance in the second half and Saville scored first after nice lead up work by Michael Burgess and Dane Clarke, who delivered the final pass under a mountain of pressure.
The brilliant Lindon McGrady then showed all his pace and skill to score a magnificent try under the posts. He also added two conversions and a penalty and suddenly Tweed Heads had scored 22 unanswered points, to lead 22-16.
The teams scored two converted tries each in a thrilling final 20 minutes, with Williams getting his second in the 62nd minute and Groat getting a well-deserved try in the 79th.
For Tweed, Lee got his double late in the half and William Johnstone also on the scoreboard in the 74th minute to confirm victory for his side.
Seagulls hooker Sam Meskell was the XXXX Man of the Match just ahead of another brilliant performance from McGrady, while former Melbourne NYC player Ben Nakubuwai led from the front. For the Capras; Groat, Freeman and Williams were all magnificent.
Gold Coast Titans forward Agnatius Paasi started the match and punched out 44 minutes (33 in his first spell) and needed the run under his belt, but looked menacing in his second spell.
Round 14 sees the Capras travel to Pizzey Park to take on the Bears while the Seagulls head to BMD Kougari Oval on Saturday night for their clash with the “flockbuster” against Wynnum Manly.
See the full scoring details and final team line-ups for this game via QRL Live
TWEED HEADS SEAGULLS 36 (Peter Lee 2, David Sheridan, Samuel Saville, Lindon McGrady, William Johnstone tries; Lindon McGrady 6 goals) def CQ CAPRAS 28 (Guy Williams 2, Oliver Percy, Ken Tofilau, Matthew Groat tries; Cody Grills 3, Tony Tumusa goals) at Browne Park.
Read the Tweed Heads Seagulls match report for this game at their website.
