Bears deny Jets after dominant first-half showing

For the Jets, a trip to Pizzey Park can be like waking up Christmas Day hoping for a new bike, but instead you end up with a bike pump instead.

Ipswich haven’t won at the coastal home of the Bears since 2013 and it will be 2022 before the Jets get another chance to try and even up the 13-6 lopsided win record at the Bears home ground.

To kick off Round 7, Burleigh applied their foot on the throat of the Jets early and didn’t let up for the whole first half.

Burleigh took the early lead when Intrust Super Cup veteran Blake Leary scored his 26th try after some great offloading by Sami Sauiluma found his rampaging second rower to dive over under a pile of grounded Jets.

The Jets continued to bring it out of their end, bashing their head against a maroon and white wall that wouldn’t give them any relief.

It didn’t take the home side long to compound the misery for their opposition and it was a former Jet ruining the Jets early stages when Luke Page barged over after a Jets error.

The Bears applied the blowtorch to the Jets with a repeat set that kept the Jets soaking up plenty of defence.

It proved too much, and current Titan and former Warrior Erin Clark ran in to score his first try for the Bears this season in his second game.

Schwass got his career 17th try soon after to extend the lead, with points-scoring machine Josh Rogers knocking over the conversion for the home side to lead 22-0.

Things were going well for the Bears and they earned a penalty from a drop-out going out on the full and Rogers added another two points.

The score was 24-0 after 33 minutes and stayed that way until half time, with the statistics showing Burleigh’s dominance. The Bears had 23 sets and completed 21, compared to the Jets eight of 12 sets. The possession difference had the Jets starving for the ball.

It took two minutes for the Bears to start the second half how they ended the first half when Schwass had his second try.

Rogers continued to kick in a relaxed fashion and knocked over his fifth from sixth to give the Bears a 30-0 lead.

Rogers was sick of scoring goals and decided to score his second try for the year, going to the left and down the short side before diving over.

It took the Jets 55 minutes to find points and it was via Tyler Coburn who got his second try in two weeks on the back of Julian Christian throwing a beautiful pass.

It was the Jets second row fighting hard to get the Jets back into the game when Zac Hetherington scored his first Intrust Super Cup try on the right edge to leave the Bears leading 34-8 with seven minutes left.

Burleigh turned the ball over, and the Jets went to their right through the hands to give Richie Pandia his third try for the season and number 35 for the Jets.

However, that was to be the end of the scoring in what was a dominant win to the Bears that was built on a ruthless first half.

Winning coach Rick Stone was happy with the Bears first half.

“We started how we want to start every week, it was great work,” Stone said.

“We talked about stopping their offloads, staying square and doing all those things you need to do against the Jets.

“I thought Erin Clark was great early, Luke Page did what Pagey does.”

Next week, the Burleigh Bears will host Townsville Blackhawks.

The Ipswich Jets will be at home to Wynnum Manly Seagulls.