Going into Sunday’s feature match at BMD Kougari Oval, the Wynnum Manly Seagulls owned the best home record and the Ipswich Jets held the best away record.
It was always going to be an exciting match between two of the form sides in the Intrust Super Cup, and they did not disappoint as Wynnum continued their strong form at home with a memorable 26-20 win.
Coming off two losses, Wynnum benefitted greatly from the return of star hooker Jake Granville.
After being late scratchings recently for the Brisbane Broncos, Granville was playing his first game in three weeks. However those looking for signs of rust would not find any as the rake was outstanding with every touch of the ball pressing his NRL credentials.
There is no team in the Intrust Super Cup that play like the Jets, and if they are not the best team they are arguably the most exciting.
Featuring two wingers on the bench, short kick offs and a mentality to play fast and wide at every opportunity, they are an enjoyable side to watch but a tough side to defend.
After 12 minutes, Wynnum’s Ben Cronin opened the scoring for the home side with a nice individual try. Carlin Anderson then responded for the Jets with a try following some nice play by the visiting halves, levelling the score at 6-all.
Wynnum were able to convert their early dominance into three tries for Benaiah Bowie, Jon Grieve and Granville. Bowie in just his second game in the Intrust Super Cup, picked up a characteristic John Te Reo offload and showed great pace to finish in the corner. Not long after, some intense Wynnum defence forced a poor offload from Ipswich which Grieve pounced on to score.
Despite every tip sheet in the competition featuring ‘watch Granville show and go out of dummy half’, knowing it’s coming and stopping it are different things. Granville scored a signature try with a scoot close to the line to have the home side in front 20-8 at half time.
The second half was akin to a finals match as the two contenders exerted all of their energy to overcome their opponent. Ipswich’s enterprising style was on full display as second rowers were running across field, front rowers were offloading and backs marauding. Whilst Wynnum did what they do best, rolling their sleeves up and running with purpose behind the ruck.
After 20 minutes of great football, livewire Jets fullback Javarn White broke the deadlock with a stepping run across the middle of the field, breaking open the line with a 50m run and beating the fullback to score under the posts.
Six minutes later, Peter Gubb crossed for a deserving try in bullocking fashion. The winger runs with as much determination as a front rower, and he would not be denied as he powered his way through three defenders to score critical points for the Seagulls, extending the lead to 26-14.
A frantic finish ensued as Ipswich fought their way to get back in the game. Two minutes from time they were able to edge within six through a Troy O’Sullivan try off a pinpoint cross kick from Jets second rower Sam Martin. Ipswich then came agonisingly close to drawing the game in the closing seconds with Martin tackled a metre short of the line in the final play of the game.
WYNNUM MANLY SEAGULLS 26 (Benaiah Bowie, Peter Gubb, Ben Cronin, Jake Granville, Jon Grieve tries; Matt Seamark 3 goals) def IPSWICH JETS 20 (Javarn White, Carlin Anderson, Troy O’Sullivan tries; Wes Conlon 3, Brendon Marshall goals) at BMD Kougari Oval.
Final teams:
Wynnum Manly Seagulls: 1. Benaiah Bowie 2. Peter Gubb 3. Matt Grieve 4. Mitchell Buckett 5. Jordan Kahu 6. Ben Cronin 7. Matt Seamark 8. Ben Shea 9. Jake Granville 10. Tim Natusch (c) 11. Graham Clark 12. John Te Reo 13. Mitchell Frei 14. Jon Grieve 15. Stephen Coombe 16. Tanu Wulf 17. Dylan Smith
Ipswich Jets: 1. Javarn White 2. Kurt Capewell 3. Nemani Valekapa 4. Brendon Marshall 5. Carlin Anderson 6. Josh Cleeland 7. Dane Phillips 8. Kurtis Lingwoodock 9. Troy O'Sullivan 10. Rod Griffin 21. Martin Kennedy 12. Sam Martin 13. Keiron Lander (c) 14. Tariki Peneha 18. Marmin Barba 19. Wes Conlon 22. Matt Parcell
