Carina cemented their spot in this week’s major semi Final against front runners Bulimba with a 64-12 drubbing against the Eagleby Giants in the Open 2 South match at Leo Williams Oval.
Eagleby had their backs against the walls from the get go as the brave Giants side went into this game with no reserves on the bench and played the whole 80 minutes with only 13 men.
On an unusually warm winter’s day, the heat was taking its toll on both sides, but Carina eager to please their home fans, put on a rugby league show for all to see as they swept away the luckless Giants in a 12-try scoring frenzy.
This would set the scene for Carina’s first two tries as powerful winger Tino Vassa went in for almost identical tries in the first five minutes. With only 30 seconds showing on the clock, it was Vassa who went in for the Tigers first try racing down the sideline to go in unscathed planting the ball down for the easiest of tries.
Straight from the kick off it was Vassa again who ran like a runaway express train smashing everything in his path to go in again for another Tigers try that had the Giants rattled.
Five-eighth David Browne nicely slotted the sideline conversion to take the Tigers out to a 10-0 lead.
Eagleby’s forward pack were being dominated by the rampant Tigers, but for a side that were struggling on the field with no reserves, it was a gallant effort to see the Giants giving it all they had. Unfortunately this Carina side who are well coached by Barry Walton took no prisoners and with it being Carina’s last home game, they wanted to go out with a bang.
Tigers halves Browne and Mark Potts ran the show. It was the two little men who were creating opportunities on the field and again some quick thinking by Potts saw him send a short pass to hooker Shane Heyden who went in to score under the posts.
At 16-0 it was looking like a walk in the park for the Tigers and with the Giants getting slower and slower back for the restart, you just knew that this game on the cusp of being a cricket score.
Straight from the kick off, powerful Carina centre Steven Speak exposed the flimsy Eagleby defence on the flanks and saw him scoot down the edge to score a fantastic try to see the home side go in again.
At this stage, the Tigers were making a mockery of the Eagleby defence. Not only were the halves causing problems for the Giants, but forwards Thomas Maxwell, Rob Ramma and hooker Leyden were killing it up the middle.
These easy metres for the Tigers would see further tries to Speak and Browne on the back of some weak defence by the tired Giants pack, beautifully converted by Browne.
But this is a game of two sides and rest assured the heart and courage of the Giants was there. Jot down the name of Eagleby five eighth Jarrod Joinbee. This kid oozes class. On a losing side, this young gun was outstanding. He has it all. Kicking, passing, directing his side around the park and a phenomenal goal kicker.
It would be Joinbee who set up the Giants first try as he beautifully threw a lovely cut out pass to Halafihi Tai who crashed over beside the posts to register the Giants first score of the afternoon.
Carina again looked like they were going to go in and again after raiding the Giants line, but a dropped ball by the Tigers saw whizz kid Joinbee pick up the scraps and race 70m upfield pursued by two would be Tigers players to score probably the try of the afternoon.
Joinbee adding the conversion right on the stroke of halftime saw the Tigers leading 32-12 at the break.
With Carina having had two tries put on them in the dying stages of the first half, the second half would see the home side rack up two quick tries in the opening stages. Fullback Jared Davies was instrumental as he was the grateful recipient off halfback Potts accurate grubber kicks on both occasions to send the Can bar faithful into song as he touched down for back to back tries.
At 50-12, you could only feel sorry for the Giants, but true to their testament, hardworking forwards Justin Cooper and Trent Manton never gave up for the visitors and some bone jarring tackles by both players made the Tigers know they were still capable of making some dents in defence.
However Carina in all their glory sealed their superiority on the game with two more back to back tries to Shane Copwell and Phil Wapp that saw the Giants down and out in the in goal for what was a forgettable afternoon for them.
In the dying seconds of the match, one more try for the home crowd was all that was needed to say goodbye in the last home game of the year as hardworking second rower Thomas Maxwell latched onto a superb pass from Potts that saw him send players left and right as he played demolition derby with the defence to score a rousing try right on the hooter.
A textbook victory for the Tigers over the Giants running out winners 64-12.
