The Brisbane Tigers may have changed their name but the rivalry between Tigers and Ipswich Jets remains the same as it always has been.
The Tigers came to Ipswich fierce and prowling the North Ipswich Reserve stalking their Ipswich prey with a dominate first 20 minutes led by Brenko Lee and Gerard Beale, and hooker Aaron Booth pulling the strings from dummy half.
It took 10 minutes before the Jets showed some enterprising attack and Jayden Connors dropped the ball just short of the line after going through the Tigers defence.
The Tigers were ready to counter attack and went down the other end and State of Origin star Brenko Lee scored in the right-hand corner.
Tigers fullback Gerard Beale liked what he saw because he replicated the same movement and the same result when he sliced through to score on the Tigers right hand side.
At 10-0 the Tigers had their perfect start after 22 minutes.
Match: Jets v Tigers
Round 4 -
home Team
Jets
14th Position
away Team
Tigers
7th Position
Venue: North Ipswich Reserve, Ipswich
The Tigers dominated possession and field position with five sets in a row and it was the Tigers hooker Aaron Booth who went one way and came back the other way for William Samuel to score his third try in two weeks from his nine Cup games.
It was 16-0 and the Jets were struggling with getting out of their own end with the Jets only having one attacking set.
The Jets earned the right to attack and put the ball to good use with the ball going wide to the Jets' right and Richie Pandia had his 33rd try for the Jets in Cup game 104.
Josh Cleeland kept the momentum going with two points and the Jets were clawing back some score at 16-6.
The fight back was under way when Julian Christian took advantage of a Jets penalty and forced his way over. The Tigers had gone from 16-0 to 16-12 in 12 minutes.
Jets coach Keiron Lander would have been a lot happier at half-time when Jayden Connors chipped ahead and was taken out by Bennett Leslie who had an extra 10 minutes added to his half time to think about it.
Cleeland took the two points from the penalty and the Jets had closed the margin to 16-14 at half-time.
As the rain fell in Ipswich it didn’t cool the engines of the Jets who continued to defend their way back into the game with Connors diving on a short kick to save the Jets.
The Tigers tried again next time they were down the Jets' end attacking, this time taking the aerial route over the top of Connors and Tigers second rower Mitch Frei climbed high and had his 46th try from Cup game 133.
The Tigers opened the gap again and led 20-14.
The Jets continued to turn away the Tigers until hooker Aaron Booth emerged from the phone booth and showed some Superman qualities finding a way through under a pile of wet and muddied Jets to give his side some scoring space.
Booth’s super power might not be kicking, as he missed the kick, and the Tigers led by 10.
Ryley Jacks put the ball up again and the Jets left it for Tigers' Linc Port to score the Tigers sixth and take the lead to 30-14.
Dean Ieremia scored his fourth try in two games, and iced the win for the Tigers with three minutes to go and the Tigers up 36-14.
Tiger hooker Aaron Booth was soaked but happy with the result.
“We kept it very simple, apart from a brief period when we were down a man and the Jets came back we stuck to what we wanted to do,” Booth said.
“The conditions made it hard but that’s also what makes it a good win.”
The Tigers face Wynnum Manly in Round 5.
Match: Tigers v WM Seagulls
Round 5 -
home Team
Tigers
9th Position
away Team
WM Seagulls
1st Position
Venue: Totally Workwear Stadium, Brisbane
The Jets will take on Central Queensland Capras.
Match: Jets v Capras
Round 5 -
home Team
Jets
13th Position
away Team
Capras
14th Position
Venue: North Ipswich Reserve, Ipswich