Neil Cadigan
Norths Devils opened up a three-point gap on the Intrust Super Cup ladder between them and the Campbell Construction Co. Tweed Seagulls after a convincing 40-12 victory over the Seagulls at Piggabeen Sports Centre on Saturday.
After a tough 30-minute period of scrapping between the two physical packs, as would be expected between the second and third-placed teams, the Devils gained the upper hand either side of half-time with three converted tries and never relented.
It was an impressive performance against a Seagulls side missing key backs Brayden McGrady and Jayden Campbell and in-form forwards Joe Vuna and Jai Whitbread.
After a try, each in the first 11 minutes saw the Devils lead 6-4 before they scored three tries in 12 minutes from the 31st to the 43rd to take a 24-4 lead and were too resilient to let their dominance slip.
Key to their success behind a strong performance by their forwards were playmakers Jack Ahearn and Jack Miers, and Kiwi international hooker Danny Levi who continually created hesitation in the Tweed defence with his smart feigning and probing from dummy half.
Skipper Ahearn was back calling the shots after two weeks’ absence and he and Miers were prominent in five of Norths’ seven tries with coach Rohan Smith’s ploy of playing Ahearn at halfback in attack and fullback in defence working perfectly.
Winger Talor Walters scored Tweed’s first two tries, the first in the fourth minute from a smart shift to the right, and his second eight minutes into the second half. Lindon McGrady had a rare off day with the boot and was unable to convert any of Tweed’s three tries.
And 24-8 Tweed were still in the game with half an hour remaining but lacked the finesse at the end of their sets that they had become accustomed to this season and the strike of fullback Campbell who had been chosen to make his NRL debut with the Titans.
Then came the game-breaking moment. After Norths fielded a Toby Sexton bomb in goal, the ball went to Miers who quickly took the 20-metre tap and, in a set move, took the ball to the unprepared Seagulls line and put Reuben into a hole and he ran 80 metres to give Norths an unassailable lead at 30-8 with Miers’ conversion from the right touchline.
Among Norths’ stars were two local Gold Coast products who got away.
Former Seagulls Mal Meninga Cup star of 2019, 19-year-old Broncos prospect Brendan Piakura, who ran a good outside-in line off Ahearn to score a first-half try and 18-year-old fellow Bronco Xavier Willison who had gained a reputation at Palm Beach Currumbin high school. He did not play a lot of minutes but showed the locals what they were missing with some impressive work.
“We competed alright early on and put Norths under pressure but we really didn’t finish our sets well enough after that,” said Tweed coach Ben Woolf of his team’s performance.
“We knew what was coming from their attack but didn’t respond well enough. They challenge you with the ball; they challenged us in yardage and in good ball. You can’t rest and you can’t assume against them.
“They caught us out on a couple of short [line-drop out] kicks and got us on some one-one-ones. We gave them too much easy ball which enabled them to get down our end and put us under pressure and play attacking football on our line.
“Plus our kicking game and chasing game that has been our strength this season weren’t good enough today.”
Tweed retains third spot despite the loss, only their second this season, and travel to Mackay next weekend to take on the Cutters on Saturday night.
NORTHS DEVILS 40 (J Rueben 2, L Pulu, B Piakura, P Rogers, J Ahearn, J Riki tries; J Miers 6 goals) def. TWEED HEADS SEAGULLS 12 (T Walters 2, L Turner tries) at Piggabeen Sports Complex.
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