Brothers produced a brutal second-half display built on their go-to rolling maul to overpower Norths 48-30 to remain undefeated in the Sumo Energy Hospital Cup.
Try-scoring doubles to hooker Dominic Fraser and flanker Jack Harley highlighted the performance in enemy territory in Saturday's huge top-of-the-table clash at Norths Rugby Club.
Full credit to Norths for the way they attacked the game but the Brethren rode home a 36-8 dominance in the second half after trailing 22-12 at the break.
It was a big turnout on the day, sparking the Eagles into an early attack at Courtney Field. A 50-metre solo try by Alex Watkins opened proceedings, sending the crowd into a frenzy as flyhalf Ben Mooney split the posts to make it 7-0.
Their attacking intent through shape and sharpness in the backline seemed to trouble the visitors early. This was soon stifled through the Brethren at set-piece time, as this gave them the platform to start controlling proceedings.
There was an intuitive early play by man of the match contender Brad Hemopo. What initially looked like an attempt to ruck the ball up quickly turned into a clever switch of play, allowing Harley to crash over for his first try. Benn Dalle Cort's radar with the boot was working to level scores at 7-all.
After a rolling maul try for Brothers to make it 12-7, it was Norths being stable at lineout time which led to crafty new recruit Mosiah Christian finding space in and around the ruck. The halfback delivered a flick pass against his old club to set up hard-working Leo Langbridge under the posts to put them up 14-12.
Norths regained composure after a gift three points were taken by Mooney.
On the stroke of halftime, it was an innovative play following a try-saving tackle by Mooney. A loose ball from a contestable kick led to Alex Flanagan Smith toeing the ball ahead twice to put Brothers on the back foot. After a heroic effort by No.8 Hemopo, the Eagles were too clinical out wide as Mackenzie Fox crossed over to cap off the ten-point swing. 22-12
Talking to Hemopo post-game about what changes were made in the second half, he explained: "We didn’t play our game in the first half. We wanted to play a more field position-oriented game. We came around in the second half and put a lot more pressure on their end."
The Brethren blew the game wide open in the first 15 minutes of the second half, piling on three consecutive tries:
A powerful 22-metre maul sparked Harley crossing for his second.
Shortly after, a slick interplay between the forwards created space in the second channel for Benn Dalle Cort to run into to put ever-present halfback Graham Urquhart.
Hemopo capped off the dominance with a rampaging try of his own.
The scoreline read 31-25, as Dalle Cort converted two out of the three tries in this period. He went four-from-eight on the afternoon.
Another rolling maul try put the Brothers up two scores before Norths resiliently built time in the opposition 22 to open their second half scoring through Fox’s second try out wide.
At the 70-minute mark, it was a filthy flick pass off the ground by Dalle Court, ultimately resulting in a right edge break for Henry Smith to sum up the situation and stroll in to seal the deal for the men in butcher's stripes.
When asked about the tough three-week run Brothers have been on playing Bond University, Easts Tigers, and now Norths Eagles, Hemopo stated: "We focus on ourselves. As long as we execute our game plan, we don’t really mind who we play."
In the other matches, premiers Bond University downed Easts 26-22 on the Gold Coast. Souths upset Wests 40-33 at Chipsy Wood Oval and GPS beat Sunnybank 31-19 at Yoku Road.
