The Great Britain Defence Force squad will continue their preparations ahead of tomorrow's State of Origin curtain raiser after a hard-fought 22-18 loss to a Queensland University Combined side.
After leading 18-10 at halftime, the Great Britain side failed to push on, succumbing to a hungry Queensland side, with head coach Damian Clayton saying his side didn't respect possession.
“You cannot have a 65 percent and 40 percent completion rate and win a match,” he said.
“When we did have the ball, we did not punish them enough, which conversely put pressure on us. We were penalised heavily and it must have been getting frustrating for them.
“I made a lot of changes, so it was difficult to steady the ship, as I was constantly looking at next week.
“They are delighted to have beaten us, so to lose by this score with the completion rate, well it is what it is.”
Last Friday's clash acted as a warm-up ahead of their clash against their Australian Defence Force counterparts at Suncorp Stadium prior to State of Origin Game III.
Clayton’s side was forced to do their fair share of defence, with players racking up big tackle counts.
“I have one player who made 37 tackles and only played 60 minutes, so I can see many stood up,” he said.
“Overall we have something to work on, and that’s why I am here, and it may well add little fuel to the players’ fire.
“We need to keep disciplined, we are military people, but with 20 minutes to go we began to push the ball, which is not right.
"So we move on and build towards next week, which is our main focus and always was.”
It may have taken until the 20th minute of their opening tour match for the tourists to open their account but the fireworks started early.
Capt Tom Howey had the crowd on its feet with a shuddering hit at prop on Queensland player Linton Enoch.
The Army man repeated his hard-hitting feat two minutes later as GB Armed Forces soaked up early attacks from the hosts.
With only fleeting signs of the visitors attacking prowess coming through breaks from AB Ryan Matthews at stand off and Logs Siliv Buinimasi at centre.
Great defending from GB Armed Forces led by Cpl Dave Hankinson, who put in some no-nonsense tackles early on halted the visitor’s efforts.
A great series of passes from captain Cpl James Hutchinson and SAC Josh Scott, later voted Man of the Match, and a good kick to touch from LAET Ben Taylor signalled a shift in the shape of the game as GB began to make further inroads into the hosts half.
Navy man LAET Mark Robinson opened the scoring, collecting a pass from Sgt Garry Dunn at scrum half to burst through right of the posts with Cpl Simon Wray converting.
Having seen several breaks come to nothing, Buinimasi showed his class smashing and rolling through several despairing challenges to score under the posts on 25 minutes, with Wray converting again.
Queensland scored an unconverted try on the half-hour through Hayden Yusia, after a great cross field kick on the right.
Good work from Hutchinson and Wray kept the game moving for GB, who seemed to be ready to shift up a gear, as good interplay between Sapper Vuli Veikune and Buinimasi saw the big man held up on the line.
That frustration was countered when the live wire wing Corporal Mike Harrison collected a pass out wide to run over for an excellent 38th minute try, while Wray’s conversion was equally as impressive from a tight angle.
It seemed one-way traffic, but an intercepted Dunn pass on the halfway line saw Kyle Riley score for a halftime score of 18-10 for GB.
More shuffling at the restart saw the hosts gain momentum and a mix up left Harrison caught in no man’s land as Hayden Yusia scored his second in the corner.
Some heavy hits rocked the hosts back, and after 57 minutes the scores were level as Enoch came back to haunt Howey as he ran over out wide.
The energised hosts gained their last score after 61 minutes, with Itaro Matsuo again using the gaps on the GB right well to lead 22-18.
A series of good tackles was all the GB side had to show for the remainder of the game, as they broke one last tie after the siren was sounded, but just could not produce that one game winning score.
To keep up to date with the touring side, visit the GB Armed Forces Facebook page or at the RAF News Twitter page: rafnewssport
**This game was in preparation for Wednesday's game between the Great Britain Defence Force and the Australian Defence Force at Suncorp Stadium. The game will be played as a curtain-raiser to State of Origin Game III. The Armed Forces game will kick off at 4.10pm
Great Britain Defence Team
1. James Hutchinson (c)
2. Simon Wray
3. Dave Hankinson
4. Silivenusi Buinimasi
5. Sonoma Veikune
6. James Young
7. Garry Dunn
8. Josh Scott
9. Kev Botwood
10. Thomas Howley
11. Ben Taylor
12. Lee Queely
13. Tommy Wilkinson
14. Lee Davies
15. Mark Robinson
16. Jordan Andrade
17. Liam Bradley
18. Jordan Kerman
19. Tom Loxam
20. James Young
21. Mike Harrison
Head Coach - Damian Clayton MBE
Asst Coach - Jason Talbot
Australian Defence Force Team
1. Mahn Darley
2. Tavis Nicholson
3. Mitch Simington
4. Keven Allsopp
5. Josh Lees
6. Dylan McGregor
7. Mitch Knowles (C)
8. Pat Inskip
9. Dylan Buckingham
10. Will Solway
11. Rob Worsley
15. Siaka King
13. Mitch Morton
14. Joel Munro
16. Jason Brand
17. Jay Brookfield
18. Sean Colville
Coach Brian Jones
