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A long range intercept from teenage halfback Nic Burns has capped a remarkable comeback by the Bilambil Jets who defeated the Tweed Heads Seagulls 22-18 at Bilambil Sports on Sunday.
Despite trailing 16-0 in the first half, the Jets found a way to get back into the match and with five minutes to go they trailed by two points.
With Tweed pressing the Bilambil line looking for their own match-winning play, 18-year-old Nic Burns was the man who came up with the footy and sprinted 90 metres to score beating several cover defenders along the way.
“I was just really happy for the young bloke,” Jets coach Scott Cooke said.
“I know he’s got some pace but I didn’t know if he’d hang on. To get there was a big effort for him but even if he hadn’t gotten there in the end, I was so happy with him to put himself in a position to get that footy. To then go on and beat them in a footrace was an even better effort.
“He’s only turned 18 last week, so it’s a big call for him to be steering the ship around. He’s getting there, so to score a winning try like that is a good reward for him.”
The Seagulls were the team that started the better of the two.
Tweed hooker Zack Friend opened the scoring in the 14th minute with a terrific solo try before big Rodney Marsh crashed over five minute later to extend the lead to 12.
A Bilambil blunder on their own line led to more Seagulls points, this time through Oliver Percy, and suddenly Tweed looked very comfortable.
However, a try to Brad Hicks late in the first half proved the turning point for the Jets, as they would go on to score the final four tries of the game.
Blake Broadwood showed electric pace down the left wing to score Bilambil’s second, while a nicely placed cross-field kick from Brad Jones led to Luke Jaeger’s try.
Nic Burns’ length of the field effort in the 75th minute completed a stunning comeback.
“It shows good character, that’s for sure,” Cooke said of the comeback.
“We’ve been slowly building. We hadn’t beaten anyone above us, but we had some good performances against Burleigh and Southport and then to beat Bay last week was good for us, but to put it on against Seagulls was an even bigger achievement today.
“We were a bit dirty on ourselves at halftime. Some silly errors gave giving them good field position and put us under a lot of pressure.
“The message at halftime was to get back into the game, complete sets and give ourselves an opportunity.”
The win sees Bilambil jump into fifth spot on the ladder while Tweed slips to fourth after consecutive losses.
In other Coast-2-Coast Bycroft Cup results Burleigh were too good for Runaway Bay, 34-10, Tugun beat Currumbin 50-20 and Southport dispatched Cudgen, 64-12.
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