Nudgee were just seconds away from the perfect start to their GPS premiership title defence before a penalty goal in injury time broke the hearts of their travelling fans. 

In another thrilling clash between the reigning premiers and rivals’ The Southport School, TSS winger Hamish Roberts calmly slotted the winning penalty goal with the final kick of the match. 

“We played pretty well but just made one or two errors at the end which cost us the game,” Nudgee coach Andrew Scotney told Rugby News. 

“We went in front 20-18 with a few minutes left, then dropped the kickoff and gave them the ball. We defended for 10 or so phases then got penalised for playing the ball off our feet so really we should have just backed our defence and left the ball and we should have caught that kick off.”

While Scotney was pleased with his side’s first up competition performance, the coach said small errors cost the visitors the match. 

“Our kick offs weren’t great all game and to Southport’s credit, they put every kick right on the mark. I don’t think it was nerves, the boys thought they were on their feet and could play at the ball but the ref thought otherwise. 

“They were obviously disappointed but I thought they handled themselves pretty well after the match. Monday and Tuesday was a little flat but they trained really well on Thursday which was good to see.” 

TSS are now outright favourites to win the 2019 premiership following the 21-20 win, but Scotney said with eight rounds remaining, the season was far from over. 

“In the last 10 or so years only three teams have won an undefeated premiership so it’s not over yet. It’s out of our hands now because other teams may go through undefeated but from our perspective, we just have to make sure we don’t beat ourselves. 

“A few people have said that it takes the pressure off us but I don’t necessarily agree. You’re still walking a bit of a tight rope because if you drop another game, then it becomes really hard, but we’re not looking too deeply into it.” 

Nudgee will take on Brisbane State High at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday evening in a curtain raiser to the Wallabies Rugby Championship clash against Argentina. 

“In the first half against TSS we created four or five really good opportunities that we just didn’t finish so the focus will be to create those opportunities and then be a little more patient,” Scotney said ahead of the State High clash. 

“From a defensive perspective, they’ve got some big ball carriers that we’ll need to shut down through hard work in defence and good low, chop tackles.”

In the rounds other matches, Southport travel to play Churchie, Gregory Terrace host an in form BBC outfit and Brisbane Grammar face Ipswich.  

“BBC are a strong team and they had a good win last week, then there were some other close results. Ipswich Grammar are a really dangerous team and they put some points on State High last week but I think that says more about the quality of Ipswich,” Scotney said. 

“We all sort of felt is was going to be a tight season and from our perspective, we’ve just got to keep improving, get a win on Saturday against a good State High team and then go from there.”