Tweed Seagulls RLFC, proudly backed by the Seagulls Club, bounced back from a loss last week to pile up the points and record a resounding 54-14 win over the Ipswich Jets at North Ipswich Reserve.
Tweed stamped their authority on the match early by completing a strong kickoff set with the ball, pinning the Jets on their own line on the last, and forcing a goal-line dropout on the second tackle to put themselves hot on the attack.
The set ended with Ryland Jacobs clipping the touchline as he dived for the corner but set the standard for the following 79 minutes.
Treymain Spry had no such trouble on Tweed’s next visit into the Ipswich half. Following a lengthy Lindon McGrady kick return and strong Jacobs carry, Tweed sent the ball wide for Spry to wind up. Selling a dummy, running over one defender and carrying another across the line, Spry opened the scoring four minutes in.
The lead didn’t last long, though.
While Ipswich came into this one without a win, they’ve offered fine periods with the ball and used their first chance in attack to get on the board through Mosese Qionomacawa.
Tweed went back to the well in response. A long shift ended with Spry in possession with room to move before the Ipswich defence managed to hold him up over the line.
A scrambling Jets defence held Toby Sexton over the line shortly after as the home side desperately tried to keep themselves in the arm wrestle. Outside of giving away a handful of relieving penalties, Tweed dominated in yardage and simply needed a period of discipline to get the scoreboard ticking over again.
Presented with a penalty of their own, Ioane Seiuli turned it into points as Brent Woolf followed the third man out of the tackle and down the short side for the big back rower to crash over.
The try added a spark to the Seagulls attack. Looking wide early and often in yardage, the visitors had no trouble working their way back up the field after points. Coach Dave Penna spoke during the week about wanting to turn the ball over in the right areas of the field and not make it easy for the opposition by giving away possession in favourable positions.
For the remainder of the half Tweed either turned the ball over inside the Ipswich ten-metre line or not at all. With three tries in as many sets at one point, the Seagulls racked up a 30-4 halftime lead as Seuili grabbed his second, Sexton crossed for one himself, and Oskar Bryant laid one on for Jaron Purcell.
Like the first try of the afternoon, Bryant followed the slow peel down the short side and created the space alongside Sexton to send Seiuli over for his second.
Regathering a charge down and earning another shot at the line on the following set, Sexton shaped to pass to the destructive right edge before selling a dummy to send the defence flying and cutting back inside to score.
Tweed followed the same pattern in the following set. Again they targeted the space around the short side A defender as Bryant skipped through the line and drew the fullback for Purcell to score under the posts.
It all happened within ten minutes, but the Seagulls ran up a score that the Jets wouldn’t be able to chase down in the second half.
Ipswich gave life to the idea of a comeback with an early second half try. Ricco Falaniko crashed his way over following two six-again calls on the Tweed line. The period of ill-discipline that plagued the Seagulls in the first half resurfaced to start the second but like the first half, a try corrected things as Jacobs got the scoring going for the left edge in the 48th minute.
Having contributed to Tweed’s lethal right edge in the first half for a double, Seiuli completed his hattrick with one on the left edge in the 55th minute. He went close to grabbing a fourth ten minutes later before being clipped just short of the line. Seiuli did get there in the end, though.
Ending up with another full set attacking the line after the Jets defence trapped a Sexton grubber but failed to collect it, Tweed inched closer to 50 with Seiuli’s fourth the easiest of the lot.
A McGrady one-on-one tackle saved Tweed from conceding a late consolation try before he scored one of his own to bring up the half-century. The 54-14 win marks the second time Tweed has cracked 50 this season with this their biggest win of the year.
The Seagulls now prepare for the next edition of the Flockbuster with Wynum-Manly Seagulls coming to Piggabeen Sports Complex Round 11.
Key Takeaways
Toby Sexton made his return from injury in this one and picked up where he left off in Round 4. The 22-year-old scored a try and handed out four try assists across the opening four rounds and added more to his try involvement tally in this one. He commanded the right edge as Tweed went a long way to winning the game in the first half.
Sexton was able to work his magic thanks to a strong Seagulls yardage game.
Whether it be through tough carries one off the ruck through the middle or on the end of a shift crossing halfway, Tweed had few problems getting up the field. Spry has been a regular contributor in yardage this season and was heavily involved again in this one. It’s still to be confirmed at the time of writing, but Oskar Bryant likely set a new season-high in running metres with his work around the ruck causing having all the way up the field, too.
Ranked 5th in yardage heading into this one, Tweed will be climbing the list after this performance.
Coaches Comments
While their spots on the ladder suggested that this was one Tweed should win, Coach Dave Penna sent the team out with a job to do.
“We came up here to do a job and the boys did that well,” Penna said.
“At times we played well and at others, we were a bit silly, but we asked them to do a job and they did that so it’s great.”
The halftime score finished in heavy favour of the Seagulls but it wasn’t without putting in the hard work first.
“Credit to them [Ipswish]. They hung right in there for most of that first half and it was only the back end that we got a few points,” said Penna.
That first-half flurry came on the back of some nice work around the ruck from Brent Woolf and Oskar Bryant who looked especially dangerous jumping out from dummy half.
“We’re playing a lot of eyes up footy where we’re trying to recognise what defences are doing, where there is space, and encourage the boys to pay there.”
Tweed scored 54 points but it was Ioane Seiuli who piled up the most as he was rewarded for what has been an excellent start to the season.
“Ioane is working really hard on his game,” Penna said.
“He’s played a lot of positions for us. He’s played on the left, he’s played on the right. It was really pleasing for him to do well today and get the four tries.
“He’s got a great attitude. People don’t realise but he’s working really hard on his game and each week he’s getting better for us. It was really pleasing for him to do well for us today.”
Written by Rugby League Writers for Tweed Seagulls Media
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