Everything you need to know: XXXX League Championship semi-final

Author: Jacob Grams QRL community content producer
Timestamp: Thu 15 Jun 2023, 12:18 PM

An age-old rivalry will again rear up when Toowoomba Clydesdales host Brisbane Red in the XXXX League Championship semi-final.

The best A grade players from each city will battle it out for a spot in the final against Cairns next month, with all the action from Clive Berghofer Stadium available to watch live on Qplus.tv from 3pm Saturday.

Brisbane Red fended off Gold Coast, Ipswich and Brisbane Green in the XXXX Chairman's Challenge last month to reach this stage, while Toowoomba won the Central region's XXXX 47th Battalion carnival, coming from behind to overrun Rockhampton in the tournament final.

These two teams butted heads in the 2021 XXXX League Championship final, with Brisbane prevailing 46-26 at North Ipswich Reserve on that occasion.

Toowoomba and Brisbane once - along with Ipswich - battled regularly for the Bulimba Cup, a notoriously fierce home-and-away round-robin competition starting in 1925.

Brisbane won 19 and Toowoomba 16 titles by the time it ended in 1972 - the Clydesdales famously getting up in 1970 on the back of a powerhouse performance from Paul Morgan, who later co-founded the Brisbane Broncos.

The game may look a bit different today, but the toughness and exuberance of Toowoomba and the skill of Brisbane is still expected to shine, as the rivalry continues.