Tweed Seagulls RLFC, proudly backed by the Seagulls Club, made the trip north to take on the Mackay Cutters in Round 14 and returned home with two competition points following their hard-fought 32-28 victory.
The Cutters saw the first opportunity to attack in good ball and looked left and right for a crack in the Seagulls defensive line. Earning a midfield scrum to end the set, Brandon Finnegan broke through the line to put the home side on the board early.
Tweed soon worked their way into the game, though.
Making use of a relieving penalty and kicking themselves into the Mackay half, Tweed started to chip away at the deficit. In what has become a classic Seagulls try this season, Toby Sexton threw a floating pass across two teammates for Ryland Jacobs to cross over in the corner.
The Cutters will have surely been conscious of giving this Seagulls attack – one of the best in the Hostplus Cup – too many opportunities to attack in good ball. Still, poor discipline plagued their defence early with another penalty in yardage leading to points.
Following a crabbing Brent Woolf run across the field, Treymain Spry took possession out the back in his new position at fullback. Holding the pass and putting Jojo Fifita one-on-one with his opposite, Spry added another try assist to his season tally as his centre stepped inside and over the line for a 10-6 Tweed lead after 13 minutes.
Spry added another only five minutes later.
Two penalties in as many tackles again cost the Cutters field position. Just like that, the Seagulls were attacking inside the 20-metre line and, again, they turned the field position into points. Looking left this time, Tom Weaver found Spry out wide. Getting deep into the line at the three-in defender with a lead runner hanging off his hip to engage the man at two-in, Spry created the space for Lee Turner to score his sixth try of the season.
An uncharacteristic Weaver error on the kickoff provided the Cutters with a chance to answer back and stop the flood of points coming at the other end. Shortly after Lamar Manuel-Liolevave was forced from the field following a head knock, Walter Lauenstein crossed over in the corner for the Cutters to cut the lead to four points.
Errors, ruck infringements and penalties defined the later stages of the first half. It came down to whether or not either side could turn the gifted field position into points. Both had their chances while coming up empty but, eventually, a Sexton linebreak led to Jarron Purcell going over under the posts to put Tweed 22-12 in front.
Giving away a penalty of their own, Tweed couldn’t hold onto their double-digit lead through to the break as Garrett Smith crashed over for the home side to be just 22-18 behind.
The two teams played with more control to start the second half. The penalties dried up for a moment and allowed more football to be played. With the ball in play and fatigue entering the game, Tweed started to take control. Their power game through the middle translated into a repeat set and into an Ioane Seiuli try followed. After Fifita brought four Cutters players into the tackle to scramble the defensive line, Jacobs dropped Seiuli back underneath and into the corner to score.
A fired-up Reece Summer returned the ensuing kickoff at speed, beating the first defender and forcing the second to regrip in a desperate attempt to slow down the barnstorming props play-the-ball. He was awarded a penalty for his efforts and only a single blade of white grass stopped Kaleb Ngamanu from scoring in the opposite corner to Seiuli.
In keeping with the back-and-forth nature of the game, Rayden Burns scored in the same corner at the other end to where Ngamanu had just missed out for the Cutters to pull to back within four points.
Fifita did his best to continue the trend with a huge carry and linebreak into the backfield out of yardage but the Cutters defence held firm. The home side managed to ask their own questions of the Tweed defence and eventually found an answer for Finnegan to score his second. With Weaver unable to cleanly collect a grubber bouncing around the posts, Finnegan swept in to give the Cutters a 28-26 lead with seven minutes to play.
The Cutters didn’t get to the end of their kick return set without an error, giving Tweed a clean crack at the line. Spry attracted four defenders on the right edge but couldn’t force his way over the line. Seiuli went close to sliding over on the following tackle. Having found success down the left edge all night for Ngamanu to go close a number of times, the young winger crossed when it counted most.
Through the hands with Sexton engaging the middle along the way, Tweed created enough space for Ngamanu to go over in the corner this time.
A penalty for the Cutters breaking early from a scrum saw the scoreboard tick over once more for the Seagulls to claim a tough 32-28 win.
Seagulls coach Dave Penna mentioned pre-game that the Cutters are a side that will “keep you honest for 80 minutes” and they did just that in this one. Any time Tweed looked to be gaining the ascendancy, they pulled it back and managed to claim a late lead. However, few teams can keep the Seagulls out for long enough to win in a shootout with their attack doing enough to fly home with the two competition points.
Key Takeaways
Lindon McGrady missed this one due to injury but Treymain Spry filled the void well at fullback. He’s always dangerous with the ball and popping up out the back of shape with room to move provided Spry with the time and space to make things happen in attack.
Brent Woolf also left the field in the 15th minute. Excellent off the bench so far this season, Oskar Bryant took his chance to play extended minutes with both hands. As much as the Cutters tried to pick him out in the line, the Seagulls hooker aimed up in defence and forced the crucial error leading to Kaleb Ngamanu’s game-winning try.
With Lamar Manuel-Liolevave also failing to finish this one, Daniel Ross stepped up to play big minutes in the middle while Jesse Jackson’s role on debut only increased in importance.
“He’s a good kid,” Penna said of Jackson.
“He tries hard and he’s from up this way so it was good to give him his debut today.”
Only the Townsville Blackhawks and Mackay Cutters have used more players than Tweeds 34 this season. While rotating through so many players hasn’t always been by design, it pays dividends at times and did so tonight.
Coaches Comments
Losing players to injury and being left with a couple of others limping around on the field, Dave Penna was pleased to escape with the two points.
“It was a gutsy win,” Penna said.
“We ended up in the wars but they did enough.
“It was certainly very entertaining. Not from where I was sitting but if you were watching the game of footy it was very entertaining.”
As expected, the Cutters didn’t roll over easily.
“Like I said to you during the week, they’re a good footy side,” said Penna.
“They complete their sets, they do everything they need to do and they make it hard for you.
“At times we made things really easy and at others, we made things hard for ourselves. But we’re going to lick our wounds, weigh it all up tomorrow and get ready to go again next week in a tough one against Burleigh.”
Written by Rugby League Writers for Tweed Seagulls Media
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