BRL In Safe Hands Rd 14 wrap

Brothers v Seagulls

Another thriller between the West Brisbane Panthers and Easts Tigers ended in a draw, Redcliffe Dolphins held off the Valleys Diehards and Logan Brothers registered their second win of the season, defeating the top-placed Wynnum Manly Seagulls.

Logan Brothers travelled to BMD Kougari Oval and delivered what all in the In Safe Hands Cup knew they were capable of, none more so than coach Steve Bretheton. “That first half was the best half of footy we have played all year,” a not-too-surprised coach said in the sheds.

Try-fest

Logan Brothers got away to flyer against the Seagulls, on the back of a 90% completion rate. With both sides scoreless after 15 minutes, a loose pass from Wynnum had Connor Toia toe the ball forward, then to regather. A well-grabbed pass to his halves partner LJ Waddups had the No.7 muscle his way to score the opening try. Logan continued its journey to the tryline scoring four more tries with Kieran Battelley, Paul Rokalati, Kalolo Saitaua all crossing; along with Sam Anderson, who only having to place his hands on a Waddup’s grubber that deflected from a Seagulls player’s leg, taking the visitors to a 26-0 lead.

Motoring mountain

It took the two big men from Wynnum Manly to spark something for the homeside to register their first points and it came within two minutes of halftime. A well-timed Ben Shea offload to the motoring mountain in Semisi Ahoafi had the big man charge 30m before off-loading to Ben Cronin to score in front of a bewildered ‘chook pen’.

Second half

Again, Logan Brothers were to first to score after the restart, with Toia crossing untouched out wide. Once again, the big men stepped up for the Seagulls, this time Semisi Ahoafi did it on his own, crashing over in the 52nd minute. Half Mitchell Ensby threaded his way to cross over and the Seagulls sniffed a comeback. Logan centre David Pritchard crossed to extend the lead to 20 points with 14 minutes to go.

‘We didn’t have a bad player out there’

Seagulls Mitchell Buckett and Benaiah Bowie crossed over late in the right corner to bring some respectability to the score, but Logan Brothers had done enough to secure their second win, 38-28.

“We gave them more football in the second half and they had a go, that’s why they are at the top of the table. We didn’t have a bad player out there tonight and this will give us confidence going into next week’s game against Easts,” Bretheton said.

Panthers v Tigers

Once again, the West Brisbane Panthers and the Easts Tigers produced another ‘edge of the seat’ encounter. Both sides went try for try in the first half to have a 12-12 halftime scoreline. Easts winger Brandon Downey scored out wide and Wests utility Dominic Biondi crossed under the crossbar, with Biondi’s try being converted. Tigers second rower Michael Egan made it look easy to score out wide and the Tigers led 20-18 with 13 minutes remaining.

A penalty 35m out and with only four minutes to go, the long boot of Kane Zalewski deliver the two points to lock it up at 20-20, the fulltime score in the end.

Redcliffe v Valleys

Redcliffe returned to Emerson Park to take on Valleys. The last time these two sides met there was in Round 1 with Valleys winning it right on fulltime 30-28.

The Dolphins started off with Kyle Van Klavern scoring first in the fifth minute. From there, it was all Redcliffe. Tries to Mitch Wilson, Sheldon Pitama and Rinsma Saveha had the premiers post 20 first-half points. Valleys prop forward Dylan Smith scored under the crossbar, taking four Redcliffe defenders with him for the only points in the first half to the home side to have the premiers lead 20-6 at half time.

Redcliffe scored only the once in the second half through Van Klaveren, while Valleys hooker Rowan Klein and Smith’s prop partner Troyden Watene crossing late, to give Redcliffe two more competition points, taking it 26-18.

Round 14 results - In Safe Hands Cup

July 1-2, 2017

Easts Tigers 20 (Jack Schaffer, Connior Carey, Charles Burchell, Michael Egan tries; Brandon Downey 2 goals) drew with West Brisbane Panthers 20 (Shaun Tupou, Dominic Biondi, Ethan Richards tries; Kane Zalewski 4 goals).

Redcliffe Dolphins 26 (Kyle Van Klaveren 2, Mitch Wilson, Sheldon Pitama, Rinsma Saveha tries; Kyle Van Klaveren 3 goals) def Valleys Diehards 18 (Rowan Klein, Dylan Smith, Troyden Watene tries; Jack Miers 3 goals).

Logan Brothers 38 (LJ Waddups, Paul Rokolati, Kieran Battelley, Connor Toia, Kalolo Saitaua, Jack Anderson, David Pritchard tries; Connor Toia 5 goals) def Wynnum Manly Seagulls 28 (Benaiah Bowie, Mitchell Buckett, Mitchell Ensby, Ben Cronin, Semisi Ahoafi tries; Mitchell Ensby 3, Ben Cronin goals).

Ipswich Jets - bye