GPS outlasted Easts in sloppy conditions at Yoku Road last Saturday to claim a 35-15 round one victory over the Tigers but Jeeps coach Sio Kite knows his side will need to improve when they travel to play Souths this weekend. 

After conceding a maul try late in the first half, Jeeps scored on either side of the half time break to claim a 14-5 lead, then scored three unanswered tries midway through the second half to take control of the match while Easts had three players in the sin bin. 

“To be honest, it was a bit of a slugfest,” Kite told Rugby News. 

“The conditions at Jeeps were pretty slow and heavy so firstly, I’m glad we avoided any injuries. 

“But the boys did really well to perform under those conditions. We were really physical and were tested by a good Easts outfit but stuck it out to get the result. 

“At half time, we had a slight lead but we knew we needed to be better. We put a big emphasis on playing in the right parts of the field and when we were able to do that, we built some pressure and eventually got some results.”

While Kite was thrilled to take the competition points from his afternoon match in charge at Yoku Road, he said he’d like to see a little more fluidity in attack from his side in a match that will hopefully be played in drier conditions this weekend. 

“Throwing the ball around and playing razzle dazzle footy like we saw in some of the other games wasn’t going to work last week so hopefully we get a drier track and can show off of our attack. I thought we showed glimpses but I know we can better. 

“We’ve also got to execute at set piece time. Easts put us under a lot of pressure and we’ve worked hard on that during the week.”

Jeeps travel in round two to play a Souths outfit that ran in seven tries to beat Norths 45-17 over the opening weekend in one of the more impressive performances of round one. 

Souths are threatening right across the park. Obviously they’ve got Taj Annan running the show and he’s got all the potential in the world,” Kite said. 

“They they’ve got others like Alofa Alofa at No.13 and Kohan Herbert at No.7, it’s going to be a really tricky game because they don’t have any major deficiencies. 

“We just need to earn the right to play the style of footy that we want to play. As I said in preseason, we want to back our skills and own the tempo we play with, regardless of if that’s fast or slow at different times.”

GPS welcome back Teti Tela at flyhalf for Saturday’s match, although Kite said he was impressed with the performance of Sebastian Ward against Easts. 

In the forwards, Malakai Taulani replaces injured prop John Downes in the starting side. 

“Malakai played a full game of reggies, then came on and player 50 minutes in first grade. 

“The poor guy was cramping up and really battling towards the end but he kept pushing. 

“No prop deserves that in round one, but he put in a massive shift and really deserves his first start this weekend.”

In the rounds other matches, Easts host Brothers, UQ take on Norths and Sunnybank host Wests.