Second half surge sees Tweed soar over Magpies

Highly professional and often unheralded left centre Lee Turner picked up two tries with all other tries scored by Gold Coast Titans representative - lock Sam McIntyre grabbing a double and prop Jai Whitfield, fullback Jayden Campbell and bench forward Darius Farmer each crossing.

“Even though we scored 40 points, we still turned over too much cheap ball and lacked some cohesion in attack at times,” admitted Tweed coach Ben Woolf.

“But after letting them in for a try in the fourth minute - on the back of a couple of penalties - I thought we competed well, particularly with our aggression in defence.

“We’re fortunate to have really good impact off the bench (Whitfield, Farmer, Brent Woolf and Braden Robson) and we didn’t get Darius Farmer onto the field until the last 30 minutes, which showed how well our middle performed.

“The bench forwards did a really good job for us in the middle of the game before the starting middle came back on and that’s going to be one of our strong points this season.”

However, for the third time in their three matches this season, the Seagulls were behind on the scoreboard at half-time before finishing stronger than their opponents.

Woolf’s hope that his side would get off to their best start of the season was smashed in the opening minutes when Magpies lock Kobe Hetherington crossed in only Souths Logan’s second set with the ball. Kevin Locke’s conversion gave them a 6-0 lead.

However, Tweed settled into their stride soon after and posted two tries just two minutes apart, to take the lead 12-6, only for the Magpies to hit back quickly and level the scores with a try to hooker Cory Paix in the 19th minute.

The Seagulls tries came from lock Sam McIntyre when he was too strong from close range in the 12th minute. The Magpies hadn’t touched the ball again after that setback when Turner crossed from a smart shift after the forwards had worked upfield strongly. Lindon McGrady converted both tries.

But a Locke penalty goal saw the Magpies go to the break at 14-12 ahead.

The Seagulls scored the next five tries though to run away with the match, going to a 40-14 lead in 71st minute.

Whitfield barged over just two minutes after half-time after good lead-up work by Brent Woolf and Braden Robson.

Although the Magpies had more of the possession in the next 10 minutes, Tweed’s defended with confidence and purpose.

Joe Vuna, the former Warriors hot prospect before missing the past two seasons while working as a Mormon missionary, was impressive on debut with his aggressive defence and he led the tempo for his side.

The win bolsters Tweed's confidence ahead of next week's XXXX Rivalry Round clash against Burleigh.

For Souths Logan, they'll return home to tackle Norths Devils.