Tiger snatch late win to break Pride hearts
By QRL Media
The Northern Pride fell just short of a remarkable comeback against Easts in their Round 13 match at Barlow Park on Saturday evening, with the Tigers coming out on top 32-28.
Both teams were coming off close Round 12 losses (the Pride 10-4 against the Capras and the Tigers 19-12 against South Logan) and were hoping to get things back on track in Cairns.
However, it was the Tigers will all the early running, with tries to Billy Walters (who sprinted downfield after a clever Gerard McCallum offload), Jake Foster who went in close to the line after Jarrod McInally caught a bomb and offloaded to his skipper and Shane Neumann in an almost carbon copy lead-up of the Foster try – all before the 22nd minute of the match.
The home side kept themselves in the match when forward Darryn Schonig crossed three minutes out from the break to put some belief into his team-mates.
But it was to be the Tigers who crossed first after halftime, this time with McInally earning a try of his own after darting down the left-hand touchline.
Out to a 22-6 lead, Easts let down their guard – and that was a welcome invitation for the Pride to pounce.
Khan Ahwang was first over in the second half for the Pride after his team capitalised on a Tigers spill; while Keenan White followed up soon after with a strong run close to the line.
An outstanding solo effort from Walters where he simply refused to get tackled put his side further in front – but that was almost immediately countered by speedster Gideon Gela-Mosby who finished off a great team play.
Two minutes later, the Pride were in again under the posts thanks to Troy Kapea, with Ahwang’s goal levelling the scores at 28-28 with seven minutes to play.
But the Tigers were not going to be denied, so with three minutes on the clock they shifted it wide to their busy winger McInally who made no mistake in the corner to clinch the victory.
See the full scoring details and final team line-ups for this game via QRL Live
EASTS TIGERS 32 (Billy Walters 2, Jake Foster, Shane Neumann, Linc Port, Jarrod McInally tries; Adam Crear 4 goals) def NORTHERN PRIDE 28 (Darryn Schonig, Khan Ahwang, Keelan White, Gideon Gela-Mosby, Troy Kapea tries; Khan Ahwang 4 goals) at Barlow Park.
