Norths Tigers defeated West End Bulldogs 32-14 at Daniel’s Park on Saturday to kick off XXXX Rivalry Round in the Ipswich Rugby League Mayor Paul Pisasale A Grade Cup.
The match was a fitting way to begin XXXX Rivalry Round with West End and Norths sharing a great local rivalry.
West End and Norths are the two geographically closest clubs in the Ipswich Rugby League separated only by the Bremer River.
The match was a special occasion for West End who were celebrating 100 years since its first ever game.
Not through a lack of enthusiasm, West End conceded an early try seven minutes into the game when Norths’ winger Joseph Wood finished a Tigers scrum play.
The Bulldogs lifted in intensity soon after and were making huge metres through the forwards.
West End second rower Garry Natoealofa was especially damaging with surging runs and spectacular offloads on the right-edge.
Through dominance in the forwards West End were able to level the scores at 4-all.
The level score-line didn’t last long when Norths struck back with a try to centre Tonga Mounga and conversion to Jarrod Biggs to give the Tigers a 10-4 halftime lead.
West End came back from the halftime break firing and only two minutes into the second half Reece Ah Voa scored for the Bulldogs to cut the margin to two points.
Norths were constantly being forced into errors by West End’s physical defence, but the Tigers were strong enough in defence to keep the Bulldogs out.
Things started to unravel for West End in the 60th minute when they lost a player to the sin-bin and Norths scored a converted try in the following set.
Norths began to score quickly with tries to: Joshua Roberts, Jarrod Biggs and Anava Fesolai and two conversions to Jarrod Biggs extending the Tigers’ lead to 32-8.
Jerome Easthorpe scored a consolation try for West End in the 78th minute and Gary Newall converted to end the game with a 32-14 win to Norths.
In the other Ipswich Rugby League Mayor Paul Pisasale A Grade Cup XXX Rivalry Round games, Brothers defeated Swifts 42-24 and Goodna defeated Fassifern 32-26.
