Ali Brigginshaw made a winning return to the field as the Souths Logan Magpies proved too strong for both West Brisbane Panthers and Tweed Seagulls in their Round 3 Holcim Cup match ups on Saturday.
The Burleigh Bears were also big winners, showing off their professionalism against Easts Tigers; setting up what is set to be an exciting encounter with the Magpies next Sunday.
The Round 3 matches began with a reinstated Seagulls side fighting hard against the Panthers in the opening half of Round 3, before eventually going down 20-4.
The Panthers opened the scoring after an impressive cross-kick from Lana Sheedy was fielded by winger Lilly Green who dove over in the right corner. The Seagulls responded when halfback Tarryn Aiken proved too quick on her feet for the defenders, diving over for Tweed’s only try of the afternoon.
On demand: Holcim Cup Round 3
Wests were too powerful through the middle against a Seagulls side who were on the back foot having missed out on playing last weekend and were forced into plenty of defending, unfortunately after giving away some cheap penalties.
It was a similar story when the Seagulls faced off against the Magpies, with the Souths Logan forwards showing their strength by rumbling up the field, with the big forward pack forcing Tweed to again work hard in defence.
The Magpies did not let Tweed come out of their half, however, the Seagulls also made them work hard for their first points which eventually came after try-scoring machine Tamika Upton was able to slice through the defence to score.
Once they had one, the rest came quickly – with tries from an Elsie Albert breakaway, despite great chase from Jess Elliston to try and bring her down, as well as a powerful effort from Elania Saluni. Amelia Kuk got her name on the board after she latched onto a good long pass from Brigginshaw.
The Magpies also had to fight hard in their game against the Panthers, coming back from 8-0 down to secure a 12-8 win.
The Panthers were quick out of the blocks, scoring back-to-back tries after applying some early pressure.
However, a double from Upton – her seventh try in two weeks – and successful conversions from Meg Ward got the Magpies over the line.
The Burleigh Bears have been in imposing defensive form during the competition and that continued with their 30-0 win over the Tigers in the round’s full game.
However, as was the case in the earlier games, the Tigers showed good spirit, with the sides evenly matched early. It was an individual effort from halfback Zahara Temara with a 90-metre run that first got the Bears on the board.
Representative forward Tallisha Harden returned from injury in style, powering over for second try for the Bears who scored two more tries before the break for an 18-0 lead.
It was another scoreless half for the Tigers, with the Bears crossing for two more tries to round out an impressive overall performance.
Full Round 3 Holcim Cup results
Next weekend’s Round 4 games will again be held at Pizzey Park on Sunday, August 23, with all the action to be broadcast on the QRL website and QRL Facebook page.
