It was a tough weekend for Gold Coast Titans' feeder teams Tweed Heads and Burleigh as both sides crashed to heavy defeats in Round 18 of the Intrust Super Cup.
Burleigh were on the receiving end of a 64-6 spanking by Redcliffe with the Dolphins running in 11 tries at Pizzey Park including a double to Brisbane Broncos rookie Tom Opacic.
Melbourne Storm winger Young Tonumaipea scored three tries playing in the centres for the Sunshine Coast Falcons as they dispatched a disappointing Tweed Heads Seagulls 49-10.
The Seagulls opened the scoring in the third minute through a runaway try to Queensland Under 20s representative Karl Lawton, but their defence disintegrated as the Falcons crossed for six-straight tries to lead 32-6 at halftime.
Lead by a strong performance from the Storm-contracted Kurt Mann in the halves – the Falcons paid fitting tribute to their team-mate James Ackerman with the whole team lifting to put in an extra effort on the field.
A four-pointer to Seagulls skipper James Wood gave the visitors some hope of a comeback until three late tries and a field goal to Billy Brittain on the siren sealed the Falcons' fifth win of the season.
This weekend the Falcons will travel to PNG to take on the Hunters while Tweed Heads are back at home and will host the Northern Pride.
SUNSHINE COAST FALCONS 49 (Young Tonumaipea 3, Sam Young 2, Rowan Klein, Suliasi Vunivalu, Kurt Mann, Johnny Vuetibau tries; Ryan Hansen 5, David Oakes goals; Billy Brittain field goal) def TWEED HEADS SEAGULLS 10 (James Wood, Karl Lawton tries; Ali Grant goal) at Sunshine Coast Stadium.
Final Teams:
Sunshine Coast Falcons: 1. Sam Young 2. Travis Robinson 3. Young Tonumaipea 4. Rowan Klein 5. Suliasi Vunivalu 6. Kurt Mann 7. David Oakes 19. Jaz Nahu-Main 9. Billy Brittain 10. Ryan Hansen (c) 11. Paul Ivan 12. Jake Samoa (c) 13. Reuben Baillie 14. Jay Lobwein 15. Johnny Vuetibau 20. Jye Ballinger 17. Jon Platt
Tweed Heads Seagulls: 1. Ali Grant 2. Nathanael Barnes 3. James Wood (c) 4. Shaun Carney 5. Leva Li 6. Ricardo Parata 7. Karl Lawton 14. Ben ridge 9. Sam Meskell 10. Oliver Percy 11. Matt Robinson 12. Blake Anderson 13. Sam Saville 18. Kalifa Faifai-Loa 15. Dane Clarke 16. Jarrod Morfett 17. Ethan Price
