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Easts Tigers won through to the Queensland Cup final on Sunday afternoon with a 30-12 win over rivals Wynnum Manly Seagulls in front of a packed Langlands Park.
The uneven scoreline was perhaps an unfair reflection on what was an incredibly hard fought game, but the Tigers were able to make the most of their chances and deserved their win as they defended resolutely.
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Wynnum capitulated in defence to concede six tries to one.
After a tight first half finished 6-6, Easts sparked the game into life with two quick tries in the opening 10 minutes of the second stanza. The Tigers defence then dealt with waves of an increasingly frustrated Wynnum attack and made the most of their opportunities to pull away and book their place at Suncorp Stadium next weekend against the Northern Pride.
This was the two team’s third meeting in four weeks, and it was a case of familiarity breeding contempt, or at least apprehension, as the two sides played out a tight, scoreless opening half hour.
A capacity crowd of nearly 5000 watched on in the warm Brisbane sun as Wynnum, backed by a strong contingent of away fans who helped to create a festival atmosphere, just edged the opening exchanges. The visitor’s pressure paid off when NRL-bound hooker Jake Granville broke the deadlock in the 33rd minute.
Wynnum kept up the pressure towards the end of the half, but a loose pass found its way into Tigers halfback Cody Walker’s hands, and he sprinted 90 metres down the line. With a difficult conversion scored from the sideline, the two teams went into the sheds level at the break.
The Tigers came out firing in the second half, and Walker scored his second just two minutes in. Another successful goal from Donald Malone extended the lead, stunning the Seagulls.
It got worse for the Seagulls just a few minutes later, as the Tigers made the most of the shift in momentum. Centre Shane Neumann scored in the corner after the defence failed to see the ball dead and Easts were on their way to the final.
The Seagulls tried to hit back, but strong defence and costly errors held the score at 16-6, until a precision cross-field kick from Walker was claimed in the air by Richie Kenner, who shoved the weak tackle aside and crossed for another score.
That try seemed to break the will of Wynnum, and Easts didn’t show any mercy. Malone got in on the act and scored from dummy half, converting his own score to push the score out to 26-6 and Tommy Butterfield shrugged aside three tacklers to round off the Tigers scoring.
New North Queensland signing Granville added a consolation try for Wynnum but the match was over as a contest by then, finishing 30-12 as the Tigers look forward to one more final week of footy this season.
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