Churchie missed a number of opportunities to steal victory from Nudgee in a tight 19-15 loss in East Brisbane over the weekend. 

Churchie led the competition leaders 15-12 midway through the second half but conceded a try from a driving maul in the 50th minute and struggled to make the most of a number of attacking opportunities in the closing stages. 

“We probably left three or four tries out there which is disappointing considering we fell just short,” Churchie first XV coach Andy Brownhill told Rugby News. 

“But we’re playing a new style of rugby this year and the boys created a lot of opportunities against a very good rugby side. We just couldn’t quite finish them off.”

Coming off a 45-point victory over TSS last week, Nudgee were clearly challenged by Churchie but found a way to dominate possession and territory for most of the final 15 minutes. 

“We had a lot of ball down there end in the last 15 minutes of the first half, then it reversed in the second half and we let them play in our half for too long,” Brownhill said. 

“The boys did manage to cause a good turnover towards the end and worked their way down the field, but Nudgee were just too good in those closing stages.”

Churchie will now need to beat Toowoomba Grammar in Toowoomba this weekend to stay within striking distance of the teams at the top of the first XV ladder. 

Toowoomba were expected to be one of the teams to beat again this season but have struggled in losses to Brisbane State High, Ipswich and TSS in the opening three rounds. 

Despite that, Brownhill said his side is expecting another tough battle when round four kicks off this weekend. 

“They are a very big forward pack so our ball movement will be key and we’ll try to move them around,” the coach explained. 

“Defensively, we were good against Nudgee but we just need to try and make more of our opportunities in attack. 

“We might not get many against a good Toowoomba side, so we need to take advantage when we get them.”

After the opening three rounds, Churchie sit sixth on the GPS first XV ladder, two wins behind Nudgee on top. 

But Brownhill said he wouldn’t be surprised to see a number of upsets each week in this year’s extremely tight competition and was hopeful his side could push up the ladder as a result. 

“We’ve got a couple of games at home coming up as well and I’m more than confident that our boys will continue to get better every week. 

“If we can string a few wins together, then we’ll set up a big game against State High in a few weeks which could be pretty important in the context of the competition. 

“We want to do everything we can to make sure the ladder stays tight and if we can do that then the pressure will go on the teams above us.”

In the rounds other matches, BBC’s big forward pack rumbled their way to a 26-24 victory over Ipswich, TSS bounced back from a disappointing showing against Nudgee to beat Toowoomba and Gregory Terrace claimed their second straight win, beating Brisbane Grammar 16-10.