Marymount Primary School have held on to claim a 16-12 win over Cairns West State School in the NRL Development Cup in thrilling opening to today's Intrust Super Cup grand final day.
Played in front of a growing crowd at Suncorp Stadium; two tries just before and just after halftime proved the difference in an otherwise evenly match contest which saw some talents play from both sides.
Cairns West kicked off to start the day and it produced some end-to-end play early and they were first on the board when a good break from their dangerous fullback Wallace Charlie was supported by his team, with Jayden Nasslander going over from dummy half. The try was converted by Peja Ahwang for a 6-0 lead.
However, Marymount hit straight back when skipper Marcus Bai cut back inside and showed some speed before running in under the posts to score. Paddy Gilbert kicked the easy conversion to draw scores level at 6-6.
They then had some luck to go ahead with just under two minutes left to go in the half when a kick through was fumbled by the Cairns West defenders and Ben Cervanek scooped up the scraps to score for a 10-4 lead at the halftime break.
Marymount had the perfect start to the second half when Dylan Bexley went on fantastic run down his right-hand side, showing his speed to put Marymount further in front. The try was was converted by Luke White for 16-6 lead.
Cairns then lifted in defence as they knew the game was on the line and they were able to show some good desperation to push the attacking Marymount players out over their left-hand touchline.
They were then able to turn defence into attack with some sparking runs from Charlie and winger William Gimini.
The team were able to work it up and out to the left and Nasslander again scored for his team, after stepping his way through the defenders before extending his arm over the line to slam down the ball and put his side back in the contest.
Converted by Charlie; the scores were narrowed to 16-12 score with just under eight minutes left to to go in the game.
While both sides tried to break through the other and run around their edges; the defences proved too strong and there was no change to the final score – despite some thrilling play by Cairns West at the end of the game.
MARYMOUNT PRIMARY SCHOOL 16 (Cooper Bai, Ben Cervanek, Dylan Bexley tries; Paddy Gilbert, Luke White goals) def CAIRNS WEST STATE SCHOOL 12 (Jayden Nasslander 2 tries; Peja Ahwang, Wallace Charlie goals) at Suncorp Stadium (Halftime: Marymount 10-6)
