Round 3 of the SEQ Under 16s pre-season Challenge series was staged at the North Ipswich Reserve last weekend.
The matches were part of the local league season launch celebrations with three A grade IRL premiership clashes. A good crowd was on hand to witness some exciting football.
The winless Brisbane Blue outfit was not expected to trouble their Red counterparts, but the Blue players were not prepared to stick to this script.
On the back of a committed defensive effort, which restricted Red to only three tries, Brisbane Blue’s attack was also good enough to cross for four tries.
Unfortunately, they could not add a conversion and had to hold on for a nail-biting 16-14 win.
Brisbane Grey also looked like recording an upset win, getting off to an impressive start scoring two good tries to build a handy 12-0 advantage in the first half.
Gold Coast Green, with a greater share of possession, slowly edged back into the game.
Some individual brilliance from Gold Coast lock forward Nelson Grove saw his team cement a thrilling 22-12 victory over an unlucky Brisbane Grey team.
Hosts Ipswich produced their best effort of the competition rounds so far and could consider themselves a little unlucky to eventually be beaten 22-18 in this see-sawing battle by Gold Coast White.
This four tries to three triumph by the Gold Coast featured a strong double from the White fullback Will Evans.
Full match results are:
Brisbane Blue 16 (Grant Tuisamoa, Reece Hoffman, Max Plath, Joseph Klowss tries) def Brisbane Red 14 (Fanitesi Niu, Vahai Finau, Liam Sua tries; Ezra Coulston goals)
Gold Coast Green 22 (Bryson Vaovasa, Jack Kenworthy, Carsil Vaikai, Nelson Grove tries; Nelson Grove (3) goals) def Brisbane Grey 12 (Dennis Leaupepe, Cole Gardiner tries; Ezra Teuila (2) goals).
Gold Coast White 20 (Ryan Garner, Andrae Semu, Will Evans (2) tries; Toby Sexton (2) goals) def Ipswich 18 (Fa’ata’ape Timai, Quentin Vaava, Romeo Tanielu tries; Nathan Stephenson, Ligi Nonoa-Hansel (2) goals).
Next week in Round 4 the games will be played at Brisbane Valleys, Emerson Park, 40 Bega Street, Grange. See below for match times:
Saturday, March 25 - all games at Brisbane Valleys (Emerson Park)
Brisbane Grey v Brisbane Blue 1pm
Gold Coast Green v Ipswich 2pm
Gold Coast White v Brisbane Red 3pm
