QCUP Round 7: Easters Tigers vs Burleigh Bears

EASTS TIGERS v BURLEIGH BEARS
Langlands Park at Sunday, April 28 ? 2.10pm
Referee: Nick Kalpakidis
Head to Head: Burleigh 11 Easts 10
Twitter: #intrustsupercup #ISC #TIGESvBEARS

Former Queensland Under 20 captain Ben Hampton has been named to make his Intrust Super Cup debut for the Tigers. The classy Mareeba junior has been in the Melbourne Storm system for a number of years and on Sunday he?ll get to test his skills at five-eighth in the country?s best second-tier competition. With first-choice five-eighth Cody Walker still recovering from a shoulder injury, the Tigers are crying out for someone to make the No. 6 jersey their own. Easts were guilty of forcing the pass and making too many errors in last weekend?s 23-20 loss to the Tweed. But you could not fault their effort, and if they display a touch more composure and precision with the ball in hand this weekend, it will spell danger for Burleigh. The Bears have reached that point in the season where they simply must win to get their season moving. Last week they were completely outplayed by Souths Logan.

QRL Media tips: Easts Tigers by 6. Easts have won the past three encounters against Burleigh and the two points could again be heading to the Tigers? Den unless the Bears lift their game.

LOL I wrote Easters Tigers

Rankin helps Burleigh to victory

Two tries to iSelect Titans backline utility Jordan Rankin has helped feeder club Burleigh Bears bounce back into form in a 28-26 win over the Easts Tigers at Langlands Park yesterday.

Switching from the halves to fullback, Rankin scored the opening two tries to give the Bears the early confidence they needed to win the match. He also landed four conversions for an individual haul of 16-points.

Rankin's second try was his entrant for try of the season as he swooped on a grubber in his own in goal, beat a couple of defenders to get into the clear and then raced 100 metres to score.

“I thought Jordan had a new lease of life back there,” Bears coach Carl Briggs said.

“Rather than having the structure and pressure of being stuck on an edge he was bobbing up everywhere and scored two fantastic tries.”

“The second one was an opportunist try that only a certain type of player is able to score.”

It was a vital win for the Bears after last week’s 30-4 drubbing at the hands of Souths-Logan.

They were near flawless in the opening stanza as Rankin’s double and tries to Tyron Haynes and Sam Meskell saw the Bears race to a 22-0 lead.

Easts got a try on the buzzer however and that gave them some momentum heading into the second half.

A couple of quick tries after the break gave the local fans some hope, but another length of the field try, this time to winger Dan Kerr, gave the Bears the match-winning lead they needed.

The Tigers dominated possession for the entire second half and they picked up two tries in the last ten minutes to make it close, but the Bears were not letting this match slip away and they held on to win by two points

“This group of players has been through a lot after last week’s performance but to respond the way they did today was outstanding,” Briggs said.

“We did everything right in the first half and they were always going to come back hard in the second half.”

“They had 25 sets in the second half to our 13 so we showed plenty of guts and determination to come away with the win.”

Burleigh will take on Ipswich next weekend as they attempt to claim back-to-back wins for the first time this year.

http://www.titans.com.au/