The Norths Devils overcame some bruising defence to post their second win on the trot by overcoming the Burleigh Bears 20-12 at Bishop Park yesterday.
Early on, both sides found scoring difficult before fullback Luke Pollock was able to find some space to post the first points of the afternoon.
Kainga Turner crossed again for the home side just before the halftime break, giving the Devils a handy 10-0 advantage.
Norths scored one more try in the second half (thanks to some speed from winger Michael Lucas) and also slotted two penalty goals to at one stage hold at 20-0 lead.
However, like their match last week, they let their opposition back in at the final stages of the game, with Burleigh finishing the game well posting back-to-back tries.
While the Bears addressed many of the issues that cost them victory in round 1 as they completed their sets and performed well in the middle, they were unable to capitalise when try-scoring opportunities presented themselves.
On multiple occasions, balls were dropped over the line and players were held up in a frustrating afternoon for the visiting side.
“We created opportunities to win the game that’s for sure, we just lacked the finesse right at the death,” Bears coach Jim Lenihan said.
“We weren’t far off today; we just need to take our opportunities when they come.
“They don’t come all the time. If you get half a chance you’ve got to take those half chances and we didn’t do that today, but our effort was a lot better and it was a far more pleasing game than what we produced last week.
“Certainly we’ve got a lot to improve on and hopefully we can improve again heading in to next week’s game and get a win.”
With three players suspended, Brad Tighe ruled out and Anthony Don away on Titans duties the Bears were forced into five changes for the game.
It presented opportunities for others to come in and make an impact.
“Some blokes got an opportunity today to play their first game in Cup and learned that there isn’t much between winning and losing a game of Intrust Super Cup and they learned about the effort that’s required,” Lenihan said.
“Young Mitch Sharp played his first game and played very well. I think he’ll play quite a few more games.
“Andrew Vela I thought was really, really good today and Pele Peletelese was very good too.”
NORTHS DEVILS 20 (Luke Pollock, Kainga Turner, Michael Lucas tries; Darren Nicholls 4 goals) def BURLEIGH BEARS 12 (Tyler Chadburn, Jason Chan tries; Tyler Chadburn 2 goals) at Bishop Park
Final teams
Norths Devils: 1. Luke Pollock 2. Kainga Turner 3. Steve Elliott 4. Dylan Galloway 5. Michael Lucas 6. Sam Foster 7. Darren Nicholls 8. Richard Tuala 9. Krys Freeman 10. Francis Molo 11. Todd Lowrie 12. Brett Greinke 13. Chris Faust 14. Byron Creighton 15. Matt Mizzi 16. Josh Afoa 19. Rhett Webster
Burleigh Bears: 1. Tyler Chadburn 21. Siuatonga Likiliki 3. Dimitri Pelo 4. Connor Broadhurst 5. Jared Teo 6. Conner Toia 7. Ryley Jacks 9. Nafe Seluini 10. Pele Peletelese 11. Louis Fanene 12. Jason Chan 13. Darren Griffiths 14. Christian Hazard 20. James Dunley 16. Shaun Maloney 17. Andrew Vela 19. Mitch Sharp
