Round 5
Burleigh Bears 16 l. Aspley Broncos 29

2007 Wizard Queensland Cup Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

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

Waiting in the wings
Mon April 16, 2007
Source: www.qrl.com.au

Broncos wingers Darius Boyd and Tame Tupou made ground in their quest to be reconsidered for the NRL, as Aspley came from behind to defeat Burleigh 29-16 at Suncorp Stadium.

Overlooked in preference of Steve Michaels and Brent Tate for the big clash between Brisbane and the Gold Coast on Friday, both Boyd and Tupou penned their names in the scorer's book.

Tupou did exceptionally well to score Aspley's first try via a Joel Moon chip kick nine minutes in, while Boyd featured in back-to-back tries in the second half to break the Bears' spirit.

While the two finishers left the ground pleased, the real star of the match was five-eighth Moon, who at 18 years-old controlled the ebb and flow of the game.

Moon showed an intention early on to be heavily involved, scurrying across the back of the ruck to create overlaps and direct teammates, then shooting into dummy-half whenever the team was short. The Aspley prodigy maintained the intensity and, after the Broncos trailed 12-6 at halftime, he scored a sensational solo try, stepping past a half dozen defenders to revive his side.

Again at the death he showed maturity beyond his years, kicking a field goal with four minutes on the clock to extend a 22-16 advantage to a seven-point margin.

Both sides sprang pre kick-off surprises, Burleigh naming 36-year-old chief executive Adrian Vowles on the bench and Aspley adding Michael Ennis and Andrew Lomu to its line-up.

Despite Tupou's early try it was in fact the Bears which started the stronger, narrowly failing to convert early opportunities to Nick Parfitt and Ryan Gundry. They learnt from their mistakes however and went into halftime ahead.

Reprising a similar effort against Redcliffe the previous round, halfback Ben Black accelerated from a near standing start in the 15th minute to step his way through some weak defence. Alex Glenn followed up two minutes from the break, the Australian underage touch football representative going across without a hand laid on him after a good Black feed.

The best play of the opening half belonged to James Stosic however, stopping a charging Dave Taylor one-on-one underneath the posts with a shuddering body check.

Unfortunately for Burleigh the same application in defence was lacking after halftime. Moon cut the Bears to ribbons in the 43rd minute and made it 12-all. Then six minutes later Boyd set up Rodney Davies on the inside and the Ipswich speedster amended the score to 18-12.

The 10-minute lapse in concentration cost the Bears dearly and even a try in his 100th game from Trent Purdon could not bring the Coast side back to level.

In a composed and confident finish which would have heartened coach Mark Gee, Aspley scored again through Boyd out wide, took the field goal option via Moon and then finished with another four-pointer to John Te Reo right on the siren.

Now with two wins in succession, Aspley hosts Easts at Bishop Park in Round Five, kicking off at 3pm Saturday. Meanwhile after successive losses Burleigh comes up against Souths Logan, to be played at 2pm on Saturday at Davies Park.

ASPLEY 29 (Tame Tupou, Joel Moon, Rodney Davies, Darius Boyd, John Te Reo tries; Michael Ennis 4 goals; Joel Moon field goal) d BURLEIGH 16 (Alex Glenn, Ben Black, Trent Purdon tries; Nick Parfitt 2 goals) at Suncorp Stadium.

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