QCUP Round 16: Burleigh Bears v Souths Logan Magpies

Burleigh Bears v Souths Logan Magpies at Pizzey Park on saturday, July 16 - 2pm

Burleigh Bears
1. Nick Parfitt 2. Waka Wanahi 3. Joe Vickery 4. Blake Morrison 5. Grant Purdon 6. Scott Smith C 7. Jamie Dowling 8. Shaun Spring 9.Riley Brown 10. Louie Fanene 11. Ayden Lee 12. Seb Davies 13. Josh White 14. Kurt Sorensen 15. Martin Griese 16. Chris Hodges 17. Matt Pow

Coach: Paul Bramley

Souths Logan Magpies

1. Corey Thompson 2. Mitch Cronin 3. Drury Low 4. Jamie Dodt 5. Wes Conlon 6. Ben Cronin 7. Dane Phillips 8. Mark Appleton 9. Travis Waddell 10. Mark Ioane 11. Mark Nicholls 12. Mat Pitman 13. Phil Dennis (c) 14. Rez Phillips 15. Eliakim Uasi 16. Andrew Edwards 17. Sam Crabb

Coach: Mark Beaumont

Souths Logan Magpies 30
Tries: M Cronin (3), D Low (2), J Damen
Goals: B Cronin (3)

defeat

Burleigh Bears 6
Tries: N Parfitt
Goals: N Parfitt

Burleigh v Souths Logan

On a cold and wet Saturday afternoon at Pizzey Park a disappointing Burleigh Bears team went down to an impressive Souths Logan outfit. After a promising startand good field position Burleigh couldn't convert it into points. The opening 20 minutes of play then became an arm wrestle which was broken by a bad play the ball by Burleigh followed shortly after by a penalty which the Souths Logan team capitalised on by scoring identical back to back tries by their wingers from well placed grubber kicks. The Bears' then seemed to self implode a little and a deflection off an attempted charge down and failure by the Burleigh team to tidy up the loose ball saw Souths then score their 3rd try. A further try before half time to Souths from another deft grubber kick saw the half-time score of South?s Logan 20 Burleigh Bears 0.

In contrast to the Souths Logan team the Burleigh Bears lacked spark and penetration in attack and they couldn't replicate the excellent kicking game of Souths Logan with their pinpoint accurate grubber kicks in particular causing the Bears' fullback Nick Parfitt (pictured) all kinds of problems in the wet and slippery conditions. The two players from Burleigh who could hold their heads up high not only from the first half but the whole match were the prop forward Brenton Lawrence who must have surely impressed Titans coach John Cartwright who was spotted at the ground with his whole hearted effort and strong determined runs even though he was heavily marked all afternoon. Scott Smith desperately tried to inspire his team with some punishing defence and his enthusiasm. As this was only his second game back after a long injury lay-off he will only be better for the run and important combinations will only improve in the weeks to come.

A contentious penalty early in the second half in front of their posts by Burleigh gave the Souths Logan teaman invitation which they duly accepted and saw them open the scoring with another try off a deft grubber kick in the corner. Although the effort couldn't be denied from the Burleigh Bears team the second half fairly much mirrored the first with periods of sustained pressure not reaping any rewards for them and after one of these periods they had to watch as the Souths centre Drury Lowe sprinted away to score a brilliant try after he produced some scintillating footwork and a great offload from Phil Ioane (brother of Digby Ioane).

To their credit the Burleigh team didn't put their cue in the rack and they were finally rewarded with a well constructed try after substitute Beau Henry sliced through the line then passed to Scott Smith who in attempting to flick pass to Parfitt had the ball knocked back by Souths Logan hooker Travis Waddell and Parfitt sprinted through and dived on the ball to score and equal the Qld Cup try scoring record of 112 tries
with Ryan Cullen.

This was undoubtedly the one shining light from the match for Burleigh with Parfitt taking 171 games to reach this amazing milestone.

Burleigh continued to attack until the end of the match to at least take something positive out of the game.

The final score finished up with Souths Logan defeating the Burleigh Bears 30 - 6 .The man of the match was

Souths Logan winger Mitch Cronin who on debut scored a hat-trick and showed that he has a big future
ahead of him.

The Bears must regroup quickly as they now sit on the edge of the top 6 and another loss next week would be a huge blow to their finals campaign.

Garry Jacobs

http://www.burleighbears.com.au/