Players impress junior Rustlers selectors

Round 4 was selection round in the Rockhampton junior competition, giving selectors a chance to piece together the teams who’ll represent the region at the upcoming CQ Capras junior trials.

From all reports, they were certainly not disappointed with the level of skill on show, with plenty of players in contention for the highly-coveted jersey.

UNDER 13

The top sides of the Under 13 competition dominated on Friday night with some big scores recorded.

Cap Coast pushed their competition credentials with a big win over Brothers Blue.

Both teams started the game testing each other, but the Brethren crossed first in the 16th minute through Petheru Toby, and just on the stroke of halftime, Rokoko Hunt added another four-pointer to give the Coast a 10-0 lead at the break.

In the second stanza, it didn't take long for the leaders to add more points; firstly, to Banjo Walker, followed by Liam Welsh and Toby finished the night with a double to record a 28-0 whitewash.

Next up, Emu Park stunned the Rocky Tigers early when Carter Welfare scored to make it 6-0, and followed up the points with some really good defence.

The Tigers hit back with a try to Ethan Halberstater to make it 6-4 at halftime and gave the side confidence into the break.

In the second half, the boys in black and orange had a field day, with Halbetstaer getting his hattrick, along with Isaac Walker, Brady Burrow and Baylee Meilland also crossing to record a 30-6 victory.

In the tightest contest of the night, Norths outlasted Gracemere 10-0 with Seth Carpenter and Jai Ireland the two try-scorers for the Knights.

Cap Coast Brothers 28 defeated Brothers Blue 0
Rocky Tigers 30 defeated Emu Park 6
Norths 10 defeated Gracemere 0

LADDER: Yeppoon 6, Cap Coast 6, Tigers 6, Norths 4, Emu Park 4, Brothers 4, Gracemere 2

UNDER 14

The match-up between Cap Coast Brothers and Brothers Blue was a repeat of last year’s Under 13 grand final but it began a completely different way to last year’s shutout.

Both sides gave nothing away, however a Rocky Brothers mistake led to Slater Feahy scoring first for the Coast.

The city Brethren stepped up their defence and forced a mistake, allowing Zack Bryce to slip over and level the score ahead of the break.

Both teams had several opportunities to produce points in the first half, and after addressing this at the break, the Cap Coast juggernaut took off to pile on points.

Ryan Martin, Malik Elisala, Sam Akiba and Jeremy Green all crossed, and despite Conner Guley’s effort to stop the momentum for a short period, their beach cousins finished off the game with Elisala and Martin picking up their doubles to claim a 40-12 victory.

Yeppoon and Brothers White put on a thriller to give selectors something to think about.

The Brethren started well when they put on three tries; a double to Hayden Peckover and one to Jack Biles but all three conversions were missed to only make it 12-0 at the hooter.

Yeppoon bounced back in the second half coming home strong and got back within two points through a double to Uriah Utai, and with only minutes remaining, the Seagulls snatched victory through a try to Jamal Doyle, winning 14-12.

In other games, Rocky Tigers outplayed Emu Park 42-4 with Cisavah Warcom bagging a hattrick whilst Licon Millett scored Emu Park’s only try and Norths piled on the points against Woorabinda with Tariq Tanner and Tyrelle Doyle both getting doubles.

Cap Coast Brothers 40 defeated Brothers Blue 12
Rocky Tigers 42 defeated Emu Park 4
Norths 34 defeated Woorabinda 6
Yeppoon 14 defeated Brothers White 12

LADDER: Cap Coast 8, Brothers Blue 6, Yeppoon 6, Norths 4, Brothers White 3, Tigers 3, Woorabinda 2, Emu Park 0

UNDER 15

The Under 15 competition again proves to be a tight age group with two really close games.

Tries were a plenty in the Brothers Blue v Norths game with both sides scoring twice in the first half; Brothers claiming points through Carter Wight and Bob Frame and Norths’ from Preston Richards and Jesse O'Donnell.

The sole difference was the magic boot of Isasih Dale that gave the Knights a slim 10-8 lead.

Norths crossed early in the second half through Nathan Reading however some late pressure from Brothers led to Darcy Williams crossing to reduce the margin to just two points with only a few minutes on the clock.

The Brethren finally got in front when Luke Callanan scored in the dying stages to claim a 16-14 victory.

In a seesawing affair, Will Larsen secured his Cap Coast side the two points after scoring a late try to take the win 22-18 over Rocky Tigers.

Brothers Blue 16 defeated Norths 14
Cap Coast Brothers 22 defeated Rocky Tigers 18

LADDER: Cap Coast 8, Brothers 6, Norths 4, Yeppoon 4, Tigers 2

UNDER 16

Defending premiers, Rockhampton Brothers have had a tough time over the past few weeks in this competition and did not want the start they got in their match up against their beach cousins.

In the very first minute, Cap Coast’s Ian Akiba scored, and then there was more disbelief as Mitchell Biddulph scored in the 13th minute, followed by Kalani Sing who blew the game out to 14-0.

Noah Chadwick got the city on the board but more points to Cap Coast through Javan Mosby allowed for a nifty 18-6 lead at the break.

The second half was a better start for Rocky Brothers when Colby Mole crossed, but Harrison Gray and Biddulph’s second gave the coast a 28-10 lead.

With no answers, the boys from the city started throwing the ball around, leading to Jai Hansen crossing, and then Zayne Cox scored a converted try, leaving the margin at just six points.

With three minutes left, Cap Coast’s hearts sunk as Hugh Truelson scored for Rockhampton, with a massive conversion to come to level the game.

Sadly, the kick was missed and Cap Coast got home, just, 28-26 in an absolute thriller.

In the other games, Norths defeated Woorabinda 54-12 with Ethan Power and Cyron Tull getting doubles and Gracemere got the better over Yeppoon with Jaydan Williams’ three tries aiding their 26-16 victory.

Norths 54 defeated Woorabinda 12
Cap Coast Brothers 28 defeated Brothers Blue 26
Gracemere 26 defeated Yeppoon 16

LADDER: Cap Coast 8, Gracemere 6, Yeppoon 6, Emu Park 6, Brothers 4, Norths 2, Woorabinda 0

UNDER 18

Yeppoon continue to make a presence in the Under 18s with their performance against Brothers on Friday night sure to send a warning to the competition leaders.

After a slow start by both sides, Luke Stenhouse found space and dived over for the first points of the game in the 17th minute.

With the score at 6-0 at halftime, the scorers were troubled quicker in the second half as Cahlen Comiskey crossed in first five minutes, and in the following set, Jake Keating dived over for the Seagulls to skip out to a 16-0 lead.

Brothers fought back towards the end when Jarvis Wedel and Jai Green crossed for the Brethren but it was all too late, going down 16-8.

The Cap Coast Tigers have been improving each week and when they shot out to a 14-0 lead through Eamon O'Hanlon and a Jett Hill double, an upset was on the cards, but before they knew it, the Emus started their come back.

Kyle Solomon scored a double and Israel Power, Adrian Ketchup and Travis Field also joined the try-scorers list as and they ran out 28-14 winners.

In the battle of the Knights, Norths Blue ran out convincing winners 28-6 with tries shared between Jaiden Mann, Brice Grant, Harry Barham, Kazzie Doyle and Jeremiah White-Williams.

Norths Blue 28 defeated Norths White 6
Emu Park 28 defeated Cap Coast Tigers 14
Yeppoon 16 defeated Brothers 8

LADDER: Emu Park 8, Yeppoon 6, Norths Blue 6, Brothers 4, Cap Coast Tigers 0, Norths White 0

ROUND 4 FIXTURES

In some exciting news for the League, the Rockhampton Under 14 and 16 girls competition starts this Friday night at Browne Park.

Female rugby league has been one of the biggest growing sports in recent times in Rockhampton, with a dedicated group of volunteers eager to support the growth of the game.

There will be six sides in both the Under 14 and 16 girls competitions with representation from Brothers, Tigers, Yeppoon, Norths, Emu Park and Gladstone.

Scroll down to see this week's fixtures.

Friday, March 15

St Brendan's College, Yeppoon

Victoria Park, Rockhampton

Barmaryee Sports Complex, Yeppoon

Browne Park, Rockhampton