Seagulls hunted up by PNG

The Tweed Head Seagulls gave third-placed PNG Hunters a tough contest at Piggabeen Sports Complex yesterday before falling away in the last quarter of the match.

Despite the final scoreline of 40-10, for much of the game it was a tight contest.

In a hard-fought first half, it was the Hunters who found first points, with Justin Olam’s try coming against the run of play after the Seagulls had been pressing hard for points of their own.

The Gulls had been making easy metres and winger Leva Li had a chance to score but missed his opportunity; while PNG made sure they made every chance count.

After the sides settled back into their rhythm with some desperate and winning defence on displace from both sides, the Seagulls got themselves on the board when skipper Sam Saville received a great ball from half Michael Burgess and ran hard towards the line to score with half-time approaching.

Tweed Heads coach Aaron Zimmerle would not have minded too much if his side were only trailing 6-4 at the break – but with three minutes left in the half, some great ball movement found veteran winger Adex Wera who crossed to put the Hunters in front 10-4.

The Seagulls needed to be the first to score in the second half and they did so with Sam Irwin darting over from dummy half. The conversion from Burgess had scores locked at 10-10, but that was to be the final scoring play for the home side.

After being kept relatively quiet for the first three quarters of the game, PNG finally managed to shake the Seagulls after they began to play some more open football.

And they are also aided in this by some Seagulls’ mistakes, with fullback Ali Grant experience a horror patch in the game, knocking on twice with the errors leading directly to tries.

Grant, who has been one of the Gulls’ best performers since returning from injury, had been enjoying a good game but will left to rue the drops close to his own line.

Fullback Bland Abavu started the blitz in the 60^th minute by pouncing on the first of the dropped balls, with Tuvi Lepa, powerful centre Thompson Teteh, Butler Morris and a second to Abavu sealed the deal for the Hunters.

Several of the Seagulls played well including Titans hooker Kierran Moseley who came off the bench and (pictured) Matt Robinson (both came off the bench) in his return from three weeks out with a hamstring injury.

Next week, both sides will have a week off with the bye.

PNG HUNTERS 40 (Bland Abavu 2, Justin Olam, Adex Wera, Tuvi Lepan, Thompson Teteh, Butler Morris tries; Ase Boas 6 goals) def TWEED HEADS SEAGULLS 10 (Sam Saville, Sam Irwin tries; Michael Burgess goal) at Piggabeen Sports.

TWEED SEAGULLS: Alex Grant, Nathaneal Barnes, Tim Cassidy, Tevita Folau, Leva Li, Sam Irwin, Michael Burgess, Oshae Tuiasau, Sam Meskell, Ethan Price, Sam Saville, Cory Blair, Sam Seville. Interchange: Kierran Moseley, Matt Robinson, Mitch Sharp, Kurt Bernard.

POINTS TABLE AFTER ROUND 17

NEXT WEEK’S GAMES

Saturday 9 July

Sunshine Coast Falcons v Redcliffe Dolphins at Sunshine Coast Stadium 3:00pm

Sunday 10 July

Souths Logan Magpies v Wynnum Manly Seagulls at Davies Park 1:40pm (Channel 9)

Burleigh Bears v Norths Devils at Pizzey Park 2:00pm

Easts Tigers v CQ Capras at Suzuki Stadium, Langlands Park 3:00pm

Northern Pride v Ipswich Jets at Barlow Park 3:00pm

Bye: PNG Hunters, Mackay Cutters, Townsville Blackhawks, Tweed Heads Seagulls