Neil Cadigan
Ben Campbell Building Group Seagulls coach Ben Woolf would not have been happy with his side conceding three soft tries in eight minutes late in the match but the Gulls will leave Cairns with their fourth straight Intrust Super Cup victory after beating Northern Pride 30-14.
Woolf cited the match as a danger game and it proved that way, with Tweed having to tough it out after a 6am flight and hanging around before playing on a suburban field on the edge of Cairns.
A little down on intensity and taking a while to gain momentum, the Gulls defended strongly and controlled the ball well enough to get into stride late in the half and go to the break 12-0 ahead.
With Titans forwards Will Matthews and Max King in the side, King playing his first game in black and white this season with Leilani Latu elevated to 18th man for the Titans on Friday night, the Seagulls did enough to control the middle of the game, heading to a 24-0 lead after 50 minutes.
A feature of the match was the two-try debut of 18-year-old Xavier Coates on the right wing. A star of Tweeds’ national championship winning Mal Meninga Cup (under-18s side), Coates was quietly fitted into Woolf’s squad and, although he made one error fielding a kick, handled the elevation well, confirming the potential of the Brisbane Broncos signing.
“I thought we hung in really well, as it was a pretty tough day, having to get a 6am flight and then play on a field which had a big slope and no dressing rooms,” Woolf said.
“We made a few silly errors at key times but controlled the ball pretty well. They had a string of possession late in the second half and we had Lamar in the bin, but other than that period I thought we controlled the game pretty well for 65 minutes and defended well.
“It’s good to come away from a trip like that with a win. It leaves us in fourth or fifth position depending on the result of the Norths-Wynnum game on Sunday, so it was a crucial win.”
Fullback Talor Walters was superb for the Seagulls, scoring two tries, constantly being on the ball and causing trouble for the Pride defence.
It took nearly half an hour for Tweed to score after squandering a good field possession a couple of times in the early stages. The ball was shifted to the left and Walters showed good feet at the line and shook off two tackles to cross. Lindon McGrady’s conversion made it 6-0.
Two minutes before half-time Coates scored the first of his two tries. He was given the ball just 10 metres out after a long pass from McGrady but still had some work to do to get over after beating opposing winger Shaun Bowen. After a 32-minute penalty goal by McGrady, that gave the Seagulls their 12-point half-time lead.
Halfback Ryley Jacks, who again played strongly, scored a tremendous try early in the second half. Fed a good ball by Titans clubmate Matthews, who was superb off the bench, Jacks ran 50 metres and pushed off two defenders on the way to the line.
Coates was over for his second in the set straight after the kick-off. Jacks kicked to centre field on the last tackle and Walters came up with the ball after pressuring the Pride fullback and threw a good long ball to Coates who strolled over. McGrady’s conversion made it 24-0 after 50 minutes.
Tweed were down to 12 men with Lamar Liolevave in the sin bin for a professional foul when the Pride scored their first two tries, in the 67th and 73rd minutes. The first came after Cowboys-contracted Jack Clifford offloaded a good pass to Ewan Moore for a soft try on the left edge.
Woolf would have been disappointed with a second softish try when Pride halfback Jack Campagnolo took the ball to the line 10 metres out and gave Peter Hola too easy a path to the tryline (with Tweed still down to 12 men). Clifford’s conversion made it 24-10 with seven minutes remaining.
Clifford scored two minutes later when fellow Cowboys squad member Javed Bowen stepped and propped and held off Spry and McLindon only to give Clifford a clear run to the line from short range with no cover coming across to fill the hole. Clifford missed the conversion for the Seagulls to keep a 10-point margin going into the final five minutes.
Walters sealed the result with a neat individual try down the short side 90 seconds from the end. Christian Hazard head left at dummy half and fed Walters who went through four defenders from 20 metres.
McLindon made it five from six for the afternoon to give the Seagulls their fourth straight win by 30-14.
Tweed Heads Seagulls 30 (Walters 2, Coates 2, Jacks tries; McGrady 5 goals) def. Northern Pride 14 (Moore, Hola, Clifford tries; Clifford goal) at Vico Oval, Cairns.
HASTINGS DEERING COLTS
TWEED SEAGULLS 35 (Callum Boomer 2, Harley Wood, Blake Campbell, Josh Sexton, Codey McLaughlin tries; Callum Boomer 4, Jaman Rio goals; Tahne Robinson field goal) def NORTHERN PRIDE 16 (Connor Rothery 2, Marcus Nona tries; Benn Campagnolo 2 goals) at Vico Oval, Mooroobool.
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