Goodna Eagles defeated Brothers 22-20 in a thrilling finish at Brother Seery Park on Sunday.
Brothers and Goodna, first and second respectively on the Ipswich Rugby League Mayor Paul Pisasale A-Grade Cup ladder, met in the much-anticipated clash with high expectations from Ipswich rugby league fans.
It was not long into the match before the scoreboard attendant was put to work.
Alex Tupuse scored out wide for Goodna in the third minute and Brothers struck back only six minutes later when Cameron Picker scored.
The game struggled to flow with so many errors and penalties being awarded in a fiery opening half.
Goodna managed to open up an 18-6 lead after 27 minutes as Brothers struggled to get into the game.
Elijah Umu was a shining light for Brothers, damaging in defence and punishing in attack allowing Brothers to find their way into the contest.
Brothers centre Shaun Daylight and halfback Jason Connors both scored tries in the last five minutes of the first-half to cut the margin to only two points at half-time with Goodna leading the Brethren 18-16.
Brothers second-half began on a negative note when they were penalised for being offside at the kickoff.
The penalty allowed Goodna to get on the front foot early in the second-half to mount pressure on Brothers.
It only took nine minutes of play in the second-half for Alex Tupuse to score again to extend Goodna’s lead to 22-16.
Brothers looked to have clicked into gear when they kept forcing repeat-sets.
Goodna were forced to defend four consecutive sets on their own line before Brothers finally broke the seemingly unbreakable, when Josh Leisemann scored in the corner for the Brethren to reduce the margin to two points at 22-20.
Brothers had the opportunity to level the scores with a sideline conversion but the kick missed by the narrowest of margins.
With two minutes remaining Goodna had the feed to a scrum 12 metres out from their own line when Brothers pushed them cleanly off the ball and won possession against the feed.
Brothers received a penalty 10 metres from Goodna’s line early in the following set but decided to tap instead of attempting a penalty goal to level the scores.
Goodna’s defence withstood Brothers’ challenge and the Eagles ran out winners 22-20.
In the other Ipswich Rugby League Mayor Paul Pisasale A-Grade Cup round six games Fassifern defeated West End 30-18 and Norths and Swifts drew 26-all.
