StoreLocal Hospital Cup Weekend Wrap – Round 9

Mon, Jun 20, 2022, 1:14 PM
Brendan Hertel
by Brendan Hertel

Round 9 of the StoreLocal Hospital Cup saw a host of Super Rugby players return to the club Rugby ranks and they made their presence felt across the competition. Lets take a look at how the four Round 9 matches played out.

GPS 20 def University of Queensland 14

In the first Grand Final rematch of 2022, the Gallopers claimed the spoils, securing a 20-14 win.

GPS outscored the home-side three-tries-to-two, with former Norths stalwart Veresa Mataitini crossing for a double in his Premier Grade debut for Jeeps.

The two teams headed into the sheds at half-time with the scores locked at nil-all. Mataitini opened up the scoring in the first minute of the second half, crossing in the right-hand corner. Jason Hofmeyr slotted the conversion to give GPS a 7-nil lead.

Mataitini was over again just four minute later, darting from the base of the ruck to score in the same corner, all be it hobbling to the line after pulling a hamstring in the process. The try putting the Gallopers ahead 12-nil.

In just his second Premier Grade appearance in as many weeks, Shaun Anderson crossed for GPS’ third try in the 57th minute in the same place as Mataitini’s two tries, to extend the visitors’ lead to 17-nil.

Kye Oates crossed for UQ’s first try in the 64th minute, fighting his way through the GPS defence to score, scrumhalf Connor Rous slotted the conversion narrowing the margin to 17-7.

A penalty for not rolling away at the ruck allowed Hofmeyr to add another three points to GPS’ tally, before prop Andrew Petelo barged over for UQ’s second try in the 71st minute.

Despite the late fightback from the reigning Premiers, it was too-little-too-late and GPS claimed bragging rights for the latest chapter of the rivalry between the two clubs.

In an interesting bit of Rugby history, we saw the sons of two Australian Rugby legends form a 10-12 combination, just like their fathers did for both Queensland and Australia, with Tom Lynagh (son of Michael) and Alex Horan (son of Tim) starting in the inside backs for UQ. A moment that would have brought a tear to any Rugby tragic’s eye.

Easts 47 def Bond University 19

Easts Tigers produced their most impressive win of the season so far in Round 9, running in seven tries to claim a 47-19 win over Bond University on Easts’ Ladies Day.

The frontrow duo of Richie Asiata and Rhys van Nek, who caused plenty of damage together during the Tigers’ 2020 premiership season were reunited and the pair both crossed for a brace of tries.

Tyrees Wilson opened the scoring in the 7th minute of the game, dotting down in the corner in front of the Ladies Day function – every young winger’s dream – before Asiata crossed for his first from close range in the 12th minute. Eli Pilz converted Asiata’s try to give the Tigers an early 12-nil lead.

Some nice foot-work and hands from Joey Fittock saw Abele Atunaisa score Bond’s first try in the 21st minute, narrowing the score-line to 12-5 where it would remain until half-time.

Van Nek scored the first of his two tries through a pick-and-drive effort close to the line in the 43rd minute, which Pilz converted, extending the home-side’s lead to 19-5.

Bond flanker Connor Pritchard answered back with a try of his own in the 50th minute, Dan Lancaster slotted the conversion to narrow the score-line to 19-12, but Van Nek answered back minutes later with another close-range try.

Asiata crossed for his second try in the 66th minute off the back of a rolling maul in the left-hand corner, before Will Kirk dotted down in the exact same spot three minutes later off the back of a brilliant off-load from lock Will Sankey.

Lock Aidan Leeming scored the try of the afternoon in the 72nd minute, taking an intercept just inside Bond’s half to then sprint 40 metres and score under the posts.

Pritchard scored his second of the afternoon in the 78th minute, but the Tigers had already secured the bonus-point win, as Easts prepare to play two games within the week, as they face Souths in a catch-up game on Wednesday night, before heading to Sunnybank for the Rick Tyrrell Cup clash against the Dragons this Saturday.

Brothers 27 def Sunnybank 26

Brothers survived a serious scare from Sunnybank to claim a narrow one-point 27-26 win over the Dragons in Round 9, with a missed penalty at the death giving Brothers a reprieve.

The Dragons opened the scoring in the 12th minute through centre Dave Feliuai Lene, who went over in the left hard corner to give the visitors an early 5-nil lead.

Back-to-back mistakes resulted in Sam Hyne and Nick Cross both scoring long-range tries, which Tayler Adams converted, to put brothers in the lead 14-5.

Puni Aupuni scored for the Dragons before half-time, with Tom Lucas adding the extras to narrow the margin to 14-12 at the break.

Brendan Bell burrowed over for Brothers’ third and final try of the afternoon just five minutes into the second half, which Adams converted, to put the Brethren ahead 21-12.

Feao Fotuaika, in his first game for Sunnybank after returning from Reds duties, scored from close range in the 50th minute. Lucas added the extras to narrow the margin to 21-19, before Adams slotted the first of two crucial penalties in the 58th minute to take the score to 24-19.

Josh Fenner was next to score for the Dragons through a pick-and-drive effort in the 72nd minute. Lucas slotted the conversion once again to put Sunnybank ahead 26-24 with less then 10 minutes on the clock.

Brothers were awarded a penalty in the 78th minute which Adams converted to put his side back in the lead 27-26, but the match wasn’t over. Sunnybank returned to the Brothers half and a scrum penalty was awarded to the Dragons in the 80th minute.

The position of the kick was just under 40m and approximately 15m from the sideline. Lucas stepped up to take the kick, lined up the shot and the kick looked on song, but the ball sailed to the left of the uprights seeing Brothers claim the narrow one-point victory.

Despite the loss, after beating UQ last week and just going down to the Brethren, there is plenty to get excited about for the Dragons and their Round 10 clash against Easts will be one to watch, with two clubs trying to claw their way up the ladder.

Wests 51 def Souths 17

The Bulldogs travelled to Chipsy Wood Oval with a full complement of their stars, including returning Reds Seru Uru, Filipo Daugunu and Isaac Henry, and the visitors ran in eight tries to claim a commanding 51-17 win over Souths.

Daugunu opened the scoring in the sixth minute of the match, linking with Uru to score in the left-hand corner. Ilikena Vudogo was next to score in the 10th minute, which Henry converted, to take Wests to a 12-nil lead.

Souths got on the board in the 15th minute, with George Francis scoring against his old club. Lachie Stewart added the extras to narrow the margin to 12-7.

A penalty from Isaac Henry in 27th minute put Wests further ahead, before Daugunu crossed for his second try on the stroke of halftime, stepping inside the Souths defence to dot down, seeing Wests head into the sheds with a 20-7 lead.

Jeral Skelton was first to score in the second half, getting on the outside of his opposite defender in the 53rd minute, before his brother Richard then scored off the back of a line-out rolling maul just seven minutes later.

A massive cut-out pass from Vilikesa Raboiliku saw Vudogo cross for his second try in the 65th minute, before a one-hand pass from Cooper Whiteside put Vudogo over for his third try just four minutes later. Wests now boasting a 44-7 lead.

Jakob Morrison scored a great individual chip-and-chase try in the 71st minute, before Gavin Wood scored a double-dummy try in the 74th minute.

Wests had the final say of the match, with Jeral Skelton splitting the defence within his own half before offloading to Fletcher Spicer, who sprinted through to dive over for the Bulldogs’ eighth try of the afternoon. The conversion from Whiteside saw Wests lock in the 51-17 result.

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