It was a rugby league fans dream at Jack Manski Oval on Saturday – four games of football and four wins for the local teams.
The new big screen at Jack Manski Oval got its first serious trial run as there were many points scored during the two wins to the Townsville Stingers in the Cyril Connell Cup and the Mal Meninga Cup.
As the crowd started to build, the Cowboys NYC team took to the field to take on the Melbourne Storm.
The local boys ran in early tries to establish a 20-0 lead by the half way mark, much to the crowd’s delight.
The main game between Townsville Blackhawks and CQ Capras began with a minute’s silence to honour the passing of Robert Lui’s grandmother Eneme Ghee.
There were moving scenes as the CQ Capras and the Blackhawks gathered in team huddles centre field.
The emotion was apparent in the Blackhawks squad as they took to the field with serious intent.
After an emphatic win last week over the Northern Pride, the team were again clinical in attack from the outset as they ran in two tries in the first 10 minutes. Lui converted both, taking the score to 12-0.
By midway through the first half, the Blackhawks were leading 18-0 nil after Rhyse Martin crossed for his first try. He would later go on to score three more tries in an outstanding display of strength and agility for the home side.
The man of the match was almost unstoppable as he stormed to the top of the Intrust Super Cup Try Scoring leader board with a barnstorming performance against the Capras.
“I was really committed to improving on my performance against the Jets. I wanted to be aggressive and have good strong carries. As a team we are focusing on grinding the other teams down, forcing them to make a lot of tackles to deplete their energy when it comes to attack. We are working well as a team and just getting those little things right,” Martin said.
In a similar display to the round three match against the Pride, the Blackhawks denied the Capras attacking opportunities and when they did have possession the Blackhawks defensive line was close to impenetrable during the first half.
Playmaker Michael Parker-Walshe was a constant threatening presence steering his side around the paddock with ease.
His 25th minute cut out pass put Moses Pangai over in the corner and took the score to 24-0. The points continued to come for the Blackhawks as winger Zac Santo scored in the same corner six minutes from half-time sending the team to the sheds with a dominant 28-0 score line over a tired CQ Capras line-up.
The second half began in much the same manner as the first with sharp attacking plays leading to two tries in quick succession to a spirited Martin who used his size and pace, attracting half of the Capras defensive line, as he took his try count to three at the 52nd minute mark.
The next points came from the visitors as the Capras backed up brilliantly in attack after a line break led to an impressive team try eventually scored by Pearson, taking the score to 40-6 with 19 minutes left in the match.
The Capras showed some fighting spirit as fullback Javarn White backed up the first try with another soon after. Displaying a clean set of heels on his way to the line taking the score to 40-12.
But the Blackhawks were far from finished. In the 76th minute a flying Tom Humble darted through the Capras line and launched downfield on his way to the try line. Humble almost made it all the way but looming defence forced a tip off to fast finishing fullback Jahrome Hughes to put the ball down in the corner for 44-12 scoreline with barely three minutes remaining in the match.
Minutes later Rhyse Martin crossed for his fourth and final try of the game which lead to a huge roar from the home crowd and the Blackhawks had for the second week in a row amassed a half century of points.
Coach Kristian Woolf was happy with this side’s effort but again played down the favourites tag,
“Our first half was clinical and our defence was really solid for the majority of that game. I think our defence is improving game by game,” Woolf said.
“It was great to back up the win against the Pride with another win and it provides us with some consistency which we will need moving into the next four rounds. We face some tough opposition in Wynnum, Souths, Redcliffe and Easts. I expect those games to be hard fought and this week’s win will give us some confidence heading into that.”
“I thought our halves Parker-Walshe and Lui really combined well and controlled the game. Ant Mitchell and Ray were sharp out of dummy half and Jahrome Hughes was again solid at the back.”
“Rhyse was a standout, he was strong through the line and came up with four tries. He played 80 minutes too, that’s a special effort.”
TOWNSVILLE BLACKHAWKS 50 (Rhyse Martin 4, Jahrome Hughes, Zac Santo, Tom Humble, Mosese Pangai, Neville Costigan tries; Robert Lui 6, Kyle Feldt goals) def CQ CAPRAS 12 (Javarn White, Jonas Pearson tries; Matt Minto 2 goals) at Jack Manski Oval, Kirwan.
Final teams
Townsville Blackhawks: 1. Jahrome Hughes 2. Zac Santo 3. Tom Humble 4. Mosese Pangai 5. Kyle Feldt 6. Robert Lui 7. Michael Parker-Walshe 8. Ricky Thorby 9. Anthony Mitchell 10. Daniel Beasley (c) 11. Glenn Hall 12. Rhyse Martin 13. Neville Costigan 14. Ray Thompson 15. Lorenzo Ma'afu 16. Chris McLean 17. Corey Jensen
CQ Capras: 1. Javarn White 2. Jonas Pearson 3. Russell Webber 4. Tarrant Mariner 5. Ha'Ofanga Rabakewa 6. Matt Minto 7. Russ Aitken 15. Nathan Young 9. Josh Mitchell 10. Fabian Soutar 11. Garrett Field 12. Guy Williams (c) 13. Gavin Hiscox 14. Ian Webster 16. Chris Stolk 24. Andrew Dale 17. Josh Johnston
