Round 2 of the Hospital Cup delivered another four great games with upsets and close games keeping the opening rounds of the season interesting. Let’s take a look at how all four games panned out.
On a hot and steamy afternoon out at Yoku Road, it was the Gallopers who got the better of Easts 36-24, outscoring the visitors 36-24.
The home-side came out of the box firing, crossing for three tries in the opening 10 minutes to take a 17-nil lead, leaving Easts supporters wondering what was going on after their dominant win over Sunnybank in Round 1.
The Tigers regrouped and entered the Gallopers 22 for the first time in the match and scored off the back of a rolling maul through young hooker Zac Crothers, before a break from Zac Shepard led to a try for his lock partner Aidan Leeming. Will Kirk converted both tries to bring the margin back to 17-14 with 10 minutes to play in the first half.
A missed kick for touch from Shane Kennedy resulted in Josh Collins’ second try of the afternoon, with the winger putting on the after burners to out sprint the Easts defence and dive over in the corner. Jason Hofmeyr added the extras to give GPS a 24-14 lead heading into HT.
Easts were rewarded with a penalty try off the back of repeated scrum penalties in the opening exchanges of the second half, before Kirk slotted a penalty in the 48th minute to level the score at 24-all.
GPS fired back into action in response and Josh Collins again caused headaches in the wider channels, darting down the right flank before offloading to Floyd Aubrey for the Gallopers’ fourth try of the afternoon, which Hofmeyr converted to put the home-side back in the lead 31-24.
A try for centre Doug Rayment put GPS out to a 36-24 lead in the 63rd minute, and then the home-side managed to defend wave-after-wave of Easts attack in the dying minutes of the game to hold onto the win.
CREDIT TO THE BOYS: Josh Collins was on fire in this match, crossing for two tries of his own while having a hand in others. Brothers Laurence and JP Tominiko scrummed the house down for Easts in the frontrow.
This match was a tale of two halves. Brothers dominated the first half, scoring four tries through Billy Bulley, Callum Hicks, Mosiah Christian and Paddy James to claim a 24-nil lead, before Wests prop Latu Talakai got the home-side on the board before the two teams went into the sheds.
With Wests having to claw their way back from a 24-7 deficit, they suffered a further blow to start the second half as Brothers were awarded a penalty try, extending the score to 31-7.
Cullin Cooper Jones dove over for Wests in the 46th minute, before Wests stalwart Connor Anderson crossed for two tries to keep his side in the contest. Despite Cooper Whiteside converting all four tries, a further penalty from Taylor Adams secured the 34-28 win for the Brethren.
CREDIT TO THE BOYS: Taylor Adams continues to impress as the new flyhalf for Brothers, steering the ship allowing players like Paddy James and Billy Bulley to impress in the wider channels. Connor Anderson did his best to pull his Wests team back into the contest.
For the second week in a row, Sunnybank have suffered a significant loss, this time at the hands of Bond, who looked dangerous in their first outing for 2022.
The Bull Sharks crossed for two tries in the first half to take a 12-nil lead into half time, through Lachie McInnes and Tyrell Kopua.
New hooker Rhys Sheriff was first to score in the second half, before Max Dowd dotted down for his first of two tries in the 51st minute.
Josh Fenner crossed for the Dragons sole try in the 67th minute, which Tevita Ahosivi converted, but Dowd iced Bond’s commanding win with his second and Bond’s fifth try in the 80th minute, securing the 31-7 win.
CREDIT TO THE BOYS: After missing most of last year through injury, Hayden Sargeant looks to be back at his dangerous back in the 10 jersey, however back in Bond colours after his stint at Sunnybank.
In what was Mick Heenan’s 250th game as head coach of UQ, his team delivered and outscored Norths seven-tries-to-two at St Lucia.
The first half was all UQ, with the home-side scoring six of their seven tries within the first 35 minutes of the match, including a double to young hooker Jake Tierney.
It seemed as though the Students took their foot off the pedal in the second half, with Norths crossing for the first try of the second stanza in the 55th minute through Pauly Rakatau-Wiperi, which Chittenden converted, to get the visitors on the board.
Mac Grealy came off the bench for UQ and crossed for their seventh try in the 72nd minute, before Norths had the final say with reserve flanker Stuart Ford going nearly the length of the field to cross for Norths second in the final play of the game.
Brad Twidale had a near perfect afternoon with the boot, slotting six-from-seven conversions.
CREDIT TO THE BOYS: In the absence of Cam Flavell, who suffered a knee injury in the opening minutes of Round 1, Jake Tierney is stepping up and performing well at hooker for the students.
