Published On: 14 June, 2022Categories: General

Written by Rugby League Writers for Tweed Seagulls Media

The Campbell Construction Co. Tweed Seagulls waited until the very end to seal the 40-30 win over the Ipswich Jets at North Ipswich Reserve, Ipswich.

The Seagulls wasted no time in getting their name on the scoreboard to start this one, though. Making the most of an early penalty which Lindon McGrady kicked into good ball territory, a long side shift to the right stretched the defence before Tweed sent the ball back to the left for Lee Turner to score just 90 seconds into the contest.

While the Jets managed to recover and start to work themselves into the game, discipline continued to provide the Seagulls with extra ball. By the 10th minute, Tweed had extended their lead to 10-0.

Lamar Manuel-Liolevave positioned himself on the left side of the ruck before sweeping into first receiver on the right. Getting deep into the line with Collins hanging off his hip, Manuel-Liolevave compresses the defence and creates the space out wide for Scott Galeano and Jo Jo Fifita to link up for points.

However, Manuel-Liolevave’s ball-playing ended up as the catalyst for Ipswich’s first points of the afternoon when Ngangarra Barker returned an intercept to the house. Just like that, despite dominating for the first 15 minutes of the match, the Seagulls led the Jets by only four points.

Both sides provided the other with opportunities to attack through errors and penalties in a trend that would last the full 80 minutes. But it wasn’t until the 25th minute when the Seagulls were presented with six more tackles that they added to the scoreboard.

In a carbon copy of the first try but with an extra pass out wide, the Seagulls moved the ball from right to left with JJ Collins again chiming in with a pass through the middle. With the defence sliding and on their heels, Lee Turner got to the outside of his man before feeding 19-year-old Kaleb Ngamanu the first try of his Hostplus Cup career.

But as was the case earlier, the Jets answered straight back through Todd White. Again, a Tweed error prior to the try provided Ipswich with the opportunity to attack in good ball. Two Seagulls penalties in the kickoff set after points put the Jets back hot on the attack before an outrageous Denzel Burns offload landed in the hands of Ricco Falaniko to level the scores at 16-16.

The theme of the first half translated into the second as a Tweed penalty soon turned into Ipswich points. This time, Lachlan Cooper rolled one into the in-goal which Barker was able to dive on to score his second try of the afternoon.

As was the case for most of the game, the Seagulls found success by shifting the ball in yardage sets. They consistently found metres down the edges and eventually provided Craig Garvey with the opportunity to burrow over from dummy half. Pulled up short only one tackle earlier, Garvey forced his way over the line on the second attempt to pull Tweed back to 22-all.

Swap Brent Woolf in for Collins in Tweed’s first and third tries and you’ve got a perfect picture of their fifth. Another shift starting from the right tram line ended up with Turner scoring his second. However, that was cancelled out by Barker’s third. He picked out another intercept and raced 80 metres to score. Shortly after, and following another Tweed penalty, Ono So’oialo put the home side 30-28 in front after he collected a Lachlan Cooper chip that landed just short of the try line.

It felt for most of the match that the last error or penalty would decide the result. For 80 minutes, the two sides traded opportunities with neither taking full control. In the end, a late Ipswich error while attempting to defuse a McGrady bomb led to Fifita going over in the corner to give Tweed the lead. Shortly after, another Jets penalty led to a Ioane Seiuli match-sealing try.

Again exploring down the right side, Jacobs cut back in against the grain to break the line. Holding up on his run while drawing the fullback, he handed Seiuli a freebie and secured the 40-30 win.

Key Takeaways

Braden Robson wasn’t available for this one but Daniel Ross stepped into the #13 jersey and the Seagulls still moved the ball wide from the middle. Robson is a key part of how Tweed moves the ball but JJ Collins, Lamar Manuel-Liolevave and Brent Woolf (making his return from a Round 4 injury) also picked up some of the slack in that department.

While the ball-playing middle featured in plenty of point-scoring actions this week, it was particularly effective in yardage. Plugging the middle for two or three tackles before exploring wider, the Seagulls worked their way up the field well throughout the match. Scott Galeano and Lee Turner, in particular, found plenty of metres down the edge to get Tweed up the field. However, that dominance in yardage was often undone with an error or penalty to release pressure.

Coach’s comments

While the 30 points conceded will be of some concern, Tweed coach Ben Woolf was happy with how his side performed with the football.

“Our attack was good at times, particularly when we were genuine on our lines,” said Woolf.

Despite being without Braden Robson, JJ Collins and the rest of the forward pack kept the Tweed attack humming.

“There wasn’t a particular focus on JJ passing but we stuck to our process regardless of who is in the middle,” Woolf said.

Ryland Jacobs is still new to the fullback role and also impressed again this week.

“Ryland is transitioning well. He still has some technical things to learn but his effort there is great and he is improving each week.”

 

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