Easts survived a 13-man finish to edge a desperate University of Queensland side 35-29 in the Sumo Energy Hospital Cup at St Lucia.
Despite adversity late with a red card for backrower Nuku Swerling and a yellow card to captain Will Sankey, grit was on display from the Tigers as they toughed out a result in enemy territory last Saturday.
Replacement scrumhalf George McLean scored with eight minutes to go but time was always against UQ. The Tigers made it a dog fight and won the little moments late to see out the game.
When asked about the two cards late, captain Sankey said post-game: "The grit and determination when we are down to 14 men, then 13 men, especially with 10 minutes to go, the boys gave it their all and got away with it."
Interestingly, the game commenced with the home side striking first through a lovely cut-out pass from Tom Manca to set up Reece Tapine in the corner. The men in blue-and-yellow quickly responded, capitalising on a sustained period of pressure ending with a rolling maul try and conversion to make it 7-5.
They continued to wrestle back control through clever midfield execution, utilising a decoy wrap play to open space for the short ball, which was disguised clinically by Matthew Smit.
He put through his centre partner in crime, Jake Pappin, which led to Easts' second try to make it 14-5.
Conversions were a huge differentiating factor on the day, with only two of the five tries converted by UQ compared to a faultless day from the tee for co-captain Elijah Pilz, who went five-from-five.
The UQ maul was a shining light as they manufactured a penalty try from one to get the scoreboard back to 14-12.
Another difference at times in the contest was the Tigers' mature and patient build-up in the UQ 22, which proved key on their third try.
Consistent phase play in and around the ruck was too much for the UQ goal line defence with Smit reaping the rewards with his second try to give the Tigers a nine-point buffer at 21-12.
In the shadows of halftime, UQ stayed in touch with lock Jack Brady crossing the line off an ever-so-imposing rolling maul. The gap was back to 21-17.
A standout moment highlighted the second half from the player who was probably a contender for man of the match in Sankey. The captain produced a charge-down that directly led to a try by No.8 Swerling which pushed the margin to 28-17.
The game gave us one of the more unexpected tries of the season to date with a failed kick to touch. The effort of the UQ players in trying to gather possession only ended up with the ball batted in field to an opportunistic Tigers winger, Timoci Naivaluwaqa.
The extended lead, with 18 minutes to go, proving to much to reel in.
When trying to get an insight into any particular reasons for the Tigers' triumphant 2-0 start to the season, Sankey elaborated: "We have got a fair amount of new boys and we have had a strong pre-season in getting to know one another which builds our strong culture.
"I feel like that’s a big thing when we get into moments when there’s 10 minutes to go and we are down a few players. It comes down to connection."
In the other games, a late Ben Mooney penalty goal gave Norths a 36-34 win over his former club Wests at Sci-Fleet Stadium.
Brothers came from behind to beat GPS 43-33 at Ashgrove and premiers Bond University beat Souths 24-7.
