The Mendi Blackhawks Intrust Super Cup Round 11 clash with the Central Queensland Capras ended in a 26-26 draw, but it might have ended differently if it wasn’t for the cool head of Carlin Anderson who nailed a sideline conversion right on fulltime.
The lead changed many times at Jack Manski Oval on Sunday (May 21) with Jonathan Reuben first to score early in the match, his first of four tries.
The Capras hit back with a try in the 25th minute, kicking the conversion and going into the break leading 6-4.
The second half was a try-athon for both teams, with eight tries scored.
The Blackhawks were the first to strike with three tries in the first 15 minutes, two to Jonathan Reuben and one to Jordan Kenworthy giving the home team a 20-6 point lead.
Just when you thought the Blackhawks were about to run away with the game, the Capras came back with four tries of their own, giving them a 26-20 lead.
But there was to be one more chapter and it was nothing short of spectacular.
With only minutes remaining, Jonathan Reuben was passed the ball and with his body flying over the side line, he still managed to keep the ball in play over the tryline and scored what would have to be one of the tries of the season so far.
This took the scores to 26-24 with the conversion from Anderson to come.
Earlier, Anderson had missed one from almost the same point. But he wasn’t going to let that happen again and as soon as it was kicked, it was never going to miss and the clash ended in a draw.
Blackhawks coach Kristian Woolf said that despite the draw his team was still a long way off where they should be.
“It was an improvement from last week, in that we had patches that were really good,” Woolf said.
“Again, we weren’t consistent enough or had the mental toughness that we needed for a win.
“The pleasing thing was that when there were only seven or eight minutes left, it looked like we were done, so to come up with a draw out of that game certainly showed a little bit of fight.”
The Mendi Blackhawks next game is against the PNG Hunters this Sunday May 28 at 3pm at the National Football Stadium.
Capras rake Krys Freeman, speaking to TV news after the match, praised his side's effort in defence.
"We've leaked a lot of points in the first half this season so it was good to turn a bit of a page today but unlucky we didn't come away with the points," he said.
See the full scoring details and final team line-ups via QRL Live
TOWNSVILLE BLACKHAWKS 26 (Jonathon Reuben 4, Jordan Kenworthy tries; Carlin Anderson 3 goals) drew with CQ CAPRAS 26 (Maipele Morseau 2, Ken Tofilau, Samuel Lollo, William Cullen tries; Marco Delapena 2, Cody Grills goals) at Jack Manski Oval.
