Brothers dominated Norths Tigers at Cribb Park on Saturday in the 2014 Ipswich Rugby League Mayor Paul Pisasale A Grade Cup.
The Easter weekend-off didn’t do Brothers any harm as their sublime teamwork secured them a convincing 40-12 win over Norths.
Brothers were under pressure early, having to defend their try-line after conceding a penalty in the first set of the match.
After staunchly defending their own try-line, Brothers worked their way out of trouble and were the first to score, when second rower Troy Sharpe sliced through Norths’ defence.
A near-perfect set from Brothers had Norths under pressure again when the Brethren had Norths pinned in their own ten metre area and forced a Tigers mistake through rushing defence.
Brothers made the most of the opportunity when a short-side play sent winger Shane Picker over for a try to give the Brethren a 10-0 lead.
Brothers kicking game made it hard for Norths to get into the match, the Tigers were repeatedly forced to work the ball out from the corner.
When Norths had finally broken Brothers’ defence, the referee called the play back and penalised Norths for obstruction.
Two tries late in the first-half to Brothers’ halfback Jason Connors gave the Brethren a 20-0 lead over Norths at half-time.
After going the entire first-half without scoring a point it only took Norths one minute after half-time to score a try through Andrew Campbell.
Brothers struck back quickly, finding space with a cross-field kick from 40 metres out resulting in a try for Cameron Picker to extend Brothers’ lead to 26-6 after a successful conversion from Josh Leisemann.
Norths conceded a penalty while in possession of the ball 20 metres from their own try-line in the 57th minutes and Brothers took advantage of the opportunity and scored through William Oloitoa extending Brothers’ lead to 30-6.
Brothers’ five-eighth Sam Krueger twice exploited Norths’ compact defensive-line with cross-field kicks, both times resulting in a try for Shane Picker to take Picker to a hat-trick.
Norths scored a late consolation try when Chris Scanlan scored from a Tigers passing-play, Jarrod Biggs converted the try for Norths to take the game to the final score of 40-12 in favour of Brothers.
Brothers 40 (Troy Sharpe, Shane Picker 3, Jason Connors 2, Cameron Picker, William Oloitoa tries; Sam Krueger 2, Josh Leisemann 2 goals) defeated Norths Tigers 12 (Andrew Campbell, Chris Scanlan tries; Brent Newton, Jarrod Biggs goals)
Goodna 56 defeated West End 12
Swifts 28 defeated Fassifern 12
