The Tweed Heads Seagulls bounced back from an agonising Round 6 loss with a strong 24-0 win over the Souths Logan Magpies at Piggabeen Sport Complex yesterday.
The home side raced out to a 20-0 lead at halftime with tries to Jai Ingram, prop Damien Sironen, Kalifa Faifai Loa and Ricardo Parata just before the break.
They only added one more try in the second – a team effort finished off by skipper James Wood – in their way to posting their third win.
“Yesterday was game that had a lot of grit about it,” coach Aaron Zimmerle said after the match.
“We have had a disjointed start to the season with a lot of weekly changes, so we are very susceptible to swings in momentum.
“Last week’s loss against a good Sunny Coast side was an example of that where we still nearly stole in the last play of the game.
“All week we talked about how learning to defend our errors and penalties was important to building some pride in the jersey and I was really proud of them yesterday.
“Souths came prepared to play and we lost Jai Ingram and Mark Offerdahl both in the first half and Jake Leary early in the second.
“Damian was huge and played 80 minutes unchanged, with over 20 hit-ups and over 30 tackles to go with his try.
“Sam Saville and Blake Anderson were also both outstanding, and Shaun Carney was ever dangerous.”
For the Magpies, the loss was their fourth in a row and the second time they have been held scoreless in what has been a tough start to the season.
This weekend – they will travel north to take on a rejuvenated Pride outfit – but there is no doubting Josh Hannay and his men will be preparing well for the challenge.
Tweed Heads will also be away this weekend and will make the trip up to Central Queensland to take on the Capras.
TWEED HEADS SEAGULLS 24 (James Wood, Kalifa Faifai Loa, Ricardo Parata, Damian Sironen, Jai Ingram tries; Blake Anderson 2 goals) def SOUTHS LOGAN MAGPIES 0 at Piggabeen Sports.
Final teams
Tweed Heads Seagulls: 1. Shaun Carney 2. Nathanael Barnes 3. James Wood (c) 4. Sam Meskell 5. Kalifa Faifai Loa 6. Ricardo Parata 7. Jamal Fogarty 8. Damian Sironen 9. Matt Srama 10. Oliver Percy 12. Dane Clarke 13. Blake Anderson 14. Jai Ingram 15. Sam Saville 16. Mark Offerdahl 17. Jake Leary 18. Hemi Mullen
Souths Logan Magpies: 1. Dylan Taikato-Simpson 2. Samisoni Vaioleti 3. Dallas Anderson 4. Tim Brooks 5. Matt Trnka 6. Josh Damen 7. Jack Joass 8. Sam Gardel 9. Herschel Gideon 10. Andrew Edwards 12. Dan Tamou 13. Travis Waddell 14. Phil Dennis (c) 15. Joe Boyce 16. Graham Levu 17. Aotealofa Tuimavave 11. Kailem Perkins
