The Tweed Seagulls and Wynnum Manly Seagulls played out a 38-34 'flockbuster' at Tugun today.
Wynnum Manly wasted no time getting themselves on the board as Tweed carried them up the field through back-to-back penalties. With the defence on the backfoot, Sam Scarlett threw a dummy while stepping off his right foot to crash over the line and open the scoring only three minutes in.
A third Tweed penalty on the last tackle in the set after points gave Wynnum Manly another chance to attack in good ball. As Scarlett did only four minutes earlier, five-eighth Max Plath sent the defence wide with a dummy before stepping through half a gap to score.
Finally spending some time with the ball after defending for the best part of 10 minutes, Tweed threatened down the right edge as Jayden Campbell popped up out the back of shape with his first major involvement of the match.
Shortly after, and in the same shape that proved threatening only 30 seconds earlier, Campbell’s presence pulled the defence out which allowed Reuben Porter to hit the outside shoulder of his defender one-on-one and crash over to score.
An open game led to regular line breaks with both sides going the full field in back-to-back sets.
First, it was Garvey being dragged down just short of the line before Wynnum Manly dropped the ball at the same spot down the other end. The 30 allowed seconds to set the scrum will have felt like 10 for the players who had just run from one end of the field and back in consecutive sets.
A break wouldn’t be far away, though.
Unfortunately for Tweed, it was spent under the posts as Mathew Lyons plucked a Lindon McGrady pass out of the air to score under the posts and push the score out to 18-6 after 22 minutes.
As he’s made a habit of doing when his side is under the pump, JJ Collins came up with the play to bring Tweed back into the game. A strong carry brought three defenders into the tackle before Collins flicked out an offload which Tweed sent straight to the left edge. Another offload in traffic and a basketball pass over the top at speed ended with Campbell dotting down to keep the points flowing.
Having just found success down the left edge, Tweed went back to the well for Will Brimson to score from dummy half and bring the scores level at 18-18. However, another Wynnum Manly intercept soon translated into points for the visitors to carry a 24-18 lead into the break.
Match: Seagulls v WM Seagulls
Round 6 -
home Team
Seagulls
9th Position
away Team
WM Seagulls
8th Position
Venue: Tugun RLFC, Tugun
The 'you score, we score' nature of the game flowed into the second half as Tweed quickly crossed the line.
Going back to a similar shift that had already seen Turner put into space once and another intercepted, McGrady this time skipped Campbell and put a perfect ball onto the chest of Turner who sent Scott Galeano over for his first.
Again, Wynnum Manly answered right back through Kalolo Saitaua to extend their lead to 28-22, only for Tweed to do the same and level the scores once more at 28-28 heading into the final 20 minutes.
The game entered the final 10 minutes as expected with the two teams trading tries in back-to-back sets, although McGrady’s kick was waved away which provided the visitors with a two-point buffer.
Tweed again attacked the edges on the kick-off in the search of points. The home side worked their way up the field before a brutal defensive set forced an error. That error and the pressure it caused soon became a penalty which Tweed used to lock the game up at 34-34.
However, the game could only end in one way... a Wynnum Manly intercept.
Tweed looked likely as they travelled up the field in search of a winner but a dropped ball on the right edge ended up in the hands of Lyons. With two interceptions leading to points already, Lyons collected Wynnum Manly’s third of the afternoon and took it to the house to secure the 38-34 win.
Key takeaways
When the going gets tough, JJ Collins and Sam McIntyre get going.
With their side on the wrong end of the scoreboard and with Wynnum Manly applying plenty of pressure throughout the opening stages, Collins and McIntyre got to work.
Collins is one of the toughest players in the competition to drag down while McIntyre’s ball-playing caused havoc through the middle and on the edges.
McIntyre didn’t leave the field in the first half but still found the energy to run 60 metres and shut down a Wynnum Manly line break one minute before halftime.
Hooker continues to be a position of dominance for Tweed.
Brent Woolf remains sidelined with an injury, but Blake Scott played a nice role behind Craig Garvey off the bench. Scott found some space around marker and forced a six again which soon led to points in the second half. Later, his run across the field helped set up Scott Galeano to score his second.
Jayden Campbell is still nursing his rib injury, but looked great with the ball in space. He linked up well with Lindon McGrady in this one but it’s his moments returning kicks that stood out. While not the biggest player on the field, Campbell’s footwork started Tweed’s sets well, at one stage jumping over a would-be defender while returning the ball up the field.
Coach comments
While Tweed conceded a handful of tries against the run of play, coach Ben Woolf wasn’t making any excuses.
“Our defence wasn’t good enough today, particularly on the line. We did have a couple of tries against the run of play but they broke us down through the middle as well which isn’t good enough,” Woolf said.
Woolf was able to find some positives in the performance with Blake Scott impressing in his first game for the club.
“Blake did a good job. His service was good which allowed us to break them down on the edges. He defended well as well.”
