Cutters prove too strong for Jets

A host of Mackay Cutters and two North Queensland Cowboys visited Ipswich today and took the two points for the first time since 2018.

The Cutters scored nine tries in an ambush that John Wayne would be proud of.

Scott Drinkwater hasn’t played against the Ipswich Jets since the 2018 finals when he scored in a 50-20 win for the Tigers and it didn’t take long for the Cowboys fullback to reacquaint himself with the Jets.

Drinkwater went the short side and put in a kick that rebounded and was grabbed by Blake Paskins to score and converted by Brandon Finnegan to give Mackay the dream lead 6-0 after six minutes.

Ten minutes later, it was that man Drinkwater again who tested the Jets on the left-hand edge. When he was stopped short, the Cutters came back to the right with a bomb that was grabbed by Ewan Coutts to score his first try in game number two in the Hostplus Cup.

The Cutters were playing the perfect game at 12-0, but they weren’t satisfied yet.

Drinkwater started scoring them instead of dishing them out and on the back of a spilt bomb by the Jets, Drinkwater dived over after an offload by Coutts.

Another bomb challenge gave the Cutters a 24-0 lead when Coutts scored his second try out wide on the right-hand side.

The Jets challenged the Cutters with two late first half tries that brought them back into the contest and cast a more positive light on the first half.

The Jets had their first try when Dominc Macumboy ran away to score in the left-hand corner in his second game for the Jets and the Jets followed it up with a smart kick from half Lachlan Cooper four minutes later that was dived on in the same corner by Macumboy to give the Jets half-time hope at 24-8.