THE QCCS Mackay Cutters ignited their 2017 Intrust Super Cup campaign with a strong 38-6 victory over the Tweed Heads Seagulls at BB Print Stadium Mackay last night.
Reshuffled during the week by coach Steve Sheppard, the new-look Cutters attack got on a roll early and never looked back as they produced a dominant second half display to put the visitors to the sword.
It was the home side under pressure early as Tweed Heads were piggybacked into Mackay territory off the back of some ill-discipline, but the Cutters showed defensive resiliency in repelling the early onslaught.
They were rewarded for their efforts when they made a big break downfield and put themselves into prime position to open the scoring.
Mackay’s left flank got the job done as Yamba Bowie fielded a cross-field bomb and batted it down to Jordan Pereira, who in turn shrugged off a tackle and got a one-handed offload back to Bowie for the winger to score in the corner and give the home side the early lead.
The Cutters soon found themselves with all sorts of momentum as second phase play saw the Seagulls left flank being exposed. It wasn’t long before the home side struck again with Nathan Saumalu finding himself on the end of some quick passing off the back of a scrum win to extend the lead further.
Aaron Booth was the next across the line as he fooled the try line defenders with a sneaky show and go.
A raft of penalties against the home side finally gave the Seagulls their first chance at points, and it was Sam Saville crashing over from close range to round out the first half, with the home side ahead 14-6.
But that was as good as it was going to get for the visitors as the floodgates would soon open.
Bowie picked up his second try of the night as he crossed in the corner off the back of a sweeping backline play early in the second half, before the mounting pressure forced a spilled bomb from the Tweed Heads fullback that Pereira happily pounced on to extend the Cutters’ lead to 20.
It was the captain’s turn to lead the way next, with Andrew Davey slicing through the defence from midfield with a show and go, drawing in the fullback and linking up with Cooper Bambling on the inside to complete the sizzling 60m effort.
With the game in the bag and fulltime looming, the hosts delivered one more blow to their opponents with Braden Uele charging in under the posts to complete an impressive second half, the Cutters coming away with a morale boosting victory.
See the full scoring details and final team line-ups for this game via QRL Live
MACKAY CUTTERS 38 (Yamba Bowie 2, Nathan Saumalu, Aaron Booth, Jordan Pereira, Cooper Bambling, Braden Uele tries; Nicholas Hynes 5 goals) def TWEED HEADS SEAGULLS 6 (Samuel Saville try; Michael Burgess goal) at BB Print Stadium, Mackay.
