By Amelia Pattel/Townsville Blackhawks Media
The Townsville Blackhawks are back in the winning circle, defeating Brisbane Tigers 30-18 at home in their Hostplus Cup Round 12 match up.
With both sides not having a win in the past two rounds, pressure is building as the teams are fighting to secure safe spots in the top eight as the season begins to close out.
The first try of the evening was scored by Blackhawks talent Joe Boyce as he crashed over the line, charging through defence to get on the board, with Shaun Nona’s kick successful.
An intercept by Justin Frain allowed the Blackhawks to gain perfect field position to score points and Kalifa Faifai-Loa dove over the try line to score in spectacular fashion. The conversion by Nona was successful.
The Tigers opened their scoring through George Fai as he was too strong to hold up over the line and the conversion from BJ Toomaga was successful.
The defensive efforts from the Blackhawks were rewarded with a try by Iosefo Baleiwairiki, as he caught a cut out ball to score in the corner and the kick from Nona was successful.
The half-time score stood at 18-6 in favour of the Blackhawks.
With a very physical first half, the remaining 40 minutes were expected to have the same intensity as the players came out firing, desperate to shut out the other team.
The Blackhawks scored first through Zac Laybutt as he slipped through a gap to score and Nona’s kick was successful. This was Laybutt’s first try in Cup.
D’Jazhirhae (Mia) Pua’avase scored in his first ever Blackhawks home game, catching an inside ball from Tomas Chester to fool his defence and Nona continued his perfect kicking streak by adding the extras.
With the Blackhawks having several sets of defence, the Tigers were able to score a try as Toomaga dove on a grubber and he was able to convert his own try.
Darren Nicholls scored for the Tigers off a kick, where he went through the defensive line untouched and the kick was successful.
The game concluded with a score of 30-18 with the Blackhawks taking the points.
Adding to the loss for the Tigers, a collision in the first half saw Alec MacDonald leave the field for a head injury assessment and he did not return for rest of the game.
The Blackhawks will play the Sunshine Coast Falcons in Round 13 at Sunshine Coast Stadium.
The Tigers will host the Redcliffe Dolphins.
