Three tries to winger Cedric Georgetown was the talking point of the Ricky Bird inspired Natives who stole the show against Gaters, running out emphatic winners 30-10 at the South Pine Sports Centre, Albany Creek.
In a true show of mettle, Natives were simply outstanding. With the experience of former Ipswich Jet Bird calling the shots and prolific point scorer Anthony Gadd at his best, the Indigenous side were never in a position of losing this match.
On an unusually hot and humid day, the visitors were first to get the party started with a fantastic try to winger Cedric who scooted over untouched after some clever ball work by Gadd. Natives who usually play a dangerous offload game, always seem to come up trumps under pressure and this try was no different.
The next try came courtesy of the Natives halfback who was near impossible to handle throughout the game and he fed a precision cut out pass to his centre who crashed over to score. The ever reliable Anthony Gadd made no mistake with the difficult conversion to take the Natives out to a 10-0 lead.
The parochial Natives supporters were out in force to spur their side on and deserve a pat on the back for coming out in a true show of support for their side.
A shell-shocked Gaters could only try and regroup and were brilliantly led by prop Leyden who was Gaters best. His kamikaze runs and brick like defence was outstanding and his reward was a four pointer beside the posts taking four defenders over the line in the process. Leyden could have easily taken out the man of the match on a losing side.
At 10-6 Gaters seemed to find some rhythm, but the heat was playing havoc on the big men and some tired forwards were letting the Natives little men run riot.
This would pave the way for winger Cedric to collect his second try of the afternoon as the Natives fullback sucked in three defenders to offload to his winger who made no mistake touching down in the corner.
The usually ever reliable Gadd missed with the difficult conversion to edge ahead 14-6.
With a minute left on the clock, a drop ball from Natives saw the Gaters second rower pick the loose ball up and dive over to score only to have the ball come loose in a 3 man tackle.
This would see Natives go in at halftime for a well-earned break.
The second half couldn’t have got off to a more better start for Natives as Bird wound back the clock and unleashed that deadly sidestep he is renowned for to dance around three Gaters defenders to score beside the posts.
Gadd slotted the easiest of conversions to see the Natives with a little more breathing space at 20-6.
Next came the try of the game. In a true sense of the word razzle dazzle, this couldn’t have been further from the truth.
Started by the Natives halfback who burst through the middle. It took some sublime skill for the pint sized halfback to beat a cast of thousands as he jinked and weaved his way through the pack to lob a perfect ball to his centre who in turn flick passed the ball back to the halfback and then found a willing and able Gadd who crashed over to score.
Gaters true to their determination and spirit hit back in fine style. A quick change of personnel by the Gaters coach saw replacement second rower notch up a full head of steam and barge his way over the line to score.
With the conversion waved away, the Natives were still looking comfortable at 24-10.
Special mention must go to the Natives attack. Considering the humid conditions that Mother Nature had thrown at these players, they were simply sensational. Their clinical approach to the match was nothing short of brilliant. If this win is any indication of how they will play out the rest of the season, other clubs should be a tad nervous.
But Natives were not finished yet. A hat trick of tries to winger Cedric capped off a memorable win as his lightning speed off the mark saw him burst down the sideline and within a whisker was able to miraculously reach out and score capping off a great win for the Indigenous side.
Fulltime: Natives 30 Gaters 10.
