The Burleigh Bears have taken an outright lead of the Coast-2-Coast Bycroft Cup with a 32-12 win over the Tugun Seahawks at Boyd Street.
The 20 point win over arch-rivals Tugun was the biggest in some time given that six of their last seven encounters were decided by two points or less.
Bears winger Dan Kerr led the way with two tries and four goals for a personal tally of 16 points.
Jackson Luke, Jarrod Te’o, Nick Harrold and Bradley Smith all crossed for the Bears as well.
“It’s a massive result in a top of the table clash,” Bears coach Wayne Forbes said.
“To me, the boys nearly played a perfect game defensively and in attack. I’m very proud of them.”
Forbes said his side played a very simple style of football based around completing sets, staying disciplined and executing the basics well.
Front row pairing Shaun Maloney and Jerry Nia were stand outs for Burleigh against the traditionally tough Tugun pack, but Forbes gave credit to his players from 1 to 17.
Burleigh were again forced into a number of late personnel and positional changes, but managed to push through and get a positive result.
“There has been a bit of adversity that we’ve had to go through,” Forbes said.
“Every week we’re making all these changes and five minutes before the game we’re getting new players and having people ruled out; so to go through that and to still represent and still put your hand up and perform the way they do is a credit to them.”
While Burleigh’s win means they are now the outright leaders, the Tugun Seahawks have been leapfrogged by Southport and Tweed Heads to slip down to fourth spot.
In other round nine Coast-2-Coast Bycroft Cup clashes Southport defeated Bilambil 42-26, Tweed Heads knocked off Currumbin 30-16 and Runaway Bay bounced back to winning form 30-6 against Cudgen.
BURLEIGH BEARS 32 (D. Kerr 2, J. Luke, B. Smith, N. Harold, J. Teo tries D. Kerr 4 goals) def TUGUN SEAHAWKS 12 (J. Sykes, R. Apanui tries D. Webb 2 goals) at Boyd Street
