Round 1
Toowoomba Clydesdales 10 l. North Qld Young Guns 36

2006 Wizard Queensland Cup Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

Location: Australia > Queensland > State/Metropolitan Level Competition: Wizard Queensland Cup

Young Guns Run Rampant
Mon March 13, 2006
Source: QRL

NORTH Queensland has blown apart an expected Queensland Wizard Cup blockbuster at Suncorp Stadium, thrashing Toowoomba 36-10 in a game which featured three State of Origin players.

Carl Webb, Josh Hannay and Corey Parker were all better than average performers on the day, but were left in the shadows of standouts Mark Henry and Brent McConnell.

The Young Guns led 18-4 at the halftime break, yet could well have been ahead 38-4, such was the number of missed opportunities in the opening stanza.

Halfback Russell Aitken opened the scoring not long after kick-off, touching down to the right of the posts.

A return to the same section of the paddock in the 8th minute saw Henry held up and pushed back. Shane Muspratt nearly scored on the next play, but was met with force by the shoulder of Parker

Twice the Young Guns missed opportunities to the far right, with Dean Payne dropping a chance while unmarked and another ball in his direction deemed forward.

Payne didnt have the happiest of times early on, failing to catch a kick in the 27th minute which led to a scrappy Greg Eastwood try. Eastwood also wrong-footed the Townsville Centrals junior in the 71st minute for the last try of the game.

At 6-4 up, North Queensland constantly chipped away at the Toowoomba line.

Heavily-involved prop Rob Tanielu popped a neat ball to put Scott Bolton across the tryline, only for referee Michael Wise to call a forward pass. Soon after Rod Jensen narrowly missed an intercept which would have been hard to stop.

Toowoombas complacency with its left-to-right passing was exposed once more when Brenton Bowen stole an Ian Lacey ball in the 30th minute and outpaced Leon Bott and Fraser Anderson to the line.

Sealing their dominance in the first half, Young Guns sub McConnell gave a flat pass out of dummy-half to Webb, who inconceivably burrowed his way across right on the siren.

It wasnt that Toowoomba was playing terrible. Certainly the Clydesdales werent at their best, but the North Queenslanders were far too potent

The trend continued in the second half, with the victors first botching a number of attempts; Gavin Cooper held up, Payne and Muspratt ignoring open men on the outside.

But then the premiers clicked into gear, with McConnell firing a beautiful pass to Hannay in the 52nd minute and then featuring in the lead-up to a flying Henry try in the 57th.

Fullback Henry was thoroughly impressive and looked sharp with every run. Similarly McConnell owned the second half with great pass selection and positioning.

In the dying stages McConnell twice broke into the clear. The first time he set Jensen up on the inside, only for Rocket Rod to drop it cold. The second time he found Bowen, who raced around to place it under the sticks.

It best summed up the afternoon for the Young Guns. Clearly too good, but still with a few kinks to iron out.

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