Tweed Seagulls RLFC, proudly backed by the Seagulls Club, fought back after a slow start but fell to the Burleigh Bears 36-22 at UAA Park, Gold Coast.
The Bears managed to force Treymain Spry over the touchline following an early yardage kick which soon led to points for the home side. Shifting the ball to the left edge, Jacob Alick found himself one-on-one with Toby Sexton and crashed his way over the line to open the scoring.
Burleigh found more success in yardage on the following set as Keano Kini broke into the backfield. However, after managing to reel in the young fullback and finish the defensive set strong, the Seagulls started to play themselves into the match. A Kruise Leeming crash ball on the last didn’t end in points, but it forced the Bears to travel 99 metres if they were to score again.
Travel 99 metres, they did.
A relieving penalty helped the Bears up the field. With it, Kini again broke into the backfield before beating the fullback this time to score and give the home team a 10-0 lead after ten minutes.
The Seagulls did well to reel in a short dropout but an error in yardage provided the Bears with another opportunity to attack in good ball. Shifting left again, Sami Sauiluma crashed his way over for a 14-0 lead inside 15 minutes.
Desperate for a period with the ball, an Emry Pere high shot provided the Seagulls with a chance of their own to attack in good ball. Leeming looked dangerous around the ruck and Sexton stepped inside to put some stress into the defensive line. However, the Bears defence held firm to turn the Seagulls away.
The Tweed back five worked hard in yardage to continue to present chances in good ball but the building pressure didn’t turn into points until the 33rd minute. Spotting the diminutive Kini defending at A on the line, Leeming put his head down and wormed his way over to cut the deficit to ten.
One try turned into two as the Seagulls again spotted Kini on the line as Sexton turned the ball back into Spry and over the Bears fullback to score.
Having conceded early and put themselves on the back foot, Tweed did well to recover and get into the sheds just 14-10 behind.
Tweed made their intentions clear on the very first set of the second half. They wouldn’t be conceding a slow start again as a long shift out of yardage moved them up the field and gave them the ascendency in the field position battle.
Having worked their way into a position to put up an attacking kick, Tom Weaver hung one up for his outside backs leading to a Bears error and a try of his own to give Tweed the lead.
The first 50 minutes ended up evenly split as both sides had their moments with ball with just an extra Tweed conversion the difference between the two. While a Seagulls try extended their lead, the Bears won the majority of the remaining minutes.
A Lee Turner try in the 54th minute extended Tweed’s lead momentarily. Sexton created the second phase following a scheming run through the middle with the momentum of Turner’s carry bouncing him over the line to score.
However, Turner’s opposite soon answered back for the Bears following back-to-back penalties to cut Tweed’s lead to 22-18 heading into the final quarter. Like the Seagulls earlier, one try became two as another Kini linebreak in yardage ended in points for the Bears to retake the lead. They pushed it out further in the 70th minute with former Seagull, Josh Patston, collecting a Guy Hamilton chip kick to score under the posts and make it 30-22 with ten minutes to play.
Pere added his second to keep the scoreboard ticking over to 36-22 where it remained through to the final whistle.
While Tweed fought their way back into the match following a slow start, the extra work required in defence early in the match caught up by the end.
The Seagulls are back on the road again in Round 16 when they travel to Bishop Park to take on the Norths Devils on Sunday afternoon.
Key Takeaways
Tweed put pressure on themselves by conceding early points but the back five played a big part in pulling them back into the game. Trymain Spry, Kaleb Ngamanu and Ryland Jacobs all made significant carries early into the set, generating the yardage needed for the Seagulls to fight their way back into the match. Toby Sexton and Tom Weaver managed to turn enough of those opportunities into points and even a lead.
The Seagulls let themselves down defensively, though. Having found a way back into the match and pulling ahead early into the second half, they couldn’t turn the Bears away often enough. The defensive workload to start the match bit them by the end as the home side ran riot to finish.
“Early in the game we just didn’t turn up defensively. We didn’t turn up. We were a bit nervous, a bit grabby. We paid for it in the end,” coach Dave Penna said after the match.
Coaches Comments
Despite the start and the final result, coach Dave Penna was pleased with how his team responded.
“We had quite a young side that started really nervous and the damage was down in that first 15 minutes or so,” Penna said.
“But I was really pleased with how they fought back and got themselves back into the game just before halftime. And our first 20 minutes, we played the footy we know we can play and got ourselves in front, but in the end, a bit of class and experience from them, the momentum swang and they ran away with the game in the end.
“Hopefully the boys learn a lesson from it and make sure that we rally again.”
With the Devils coming up, Penna will take a few positives out of this one and into the next.
“You have to take the positives out of what came out of that today, and there were some positives. We put 30 minutes together and showed what we’re capable of doing. We just need to learn how to do that for 50, 60, 70 minutes.”
Written by Rugby League Writers for Tweed Seagulls Media
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