By Finn Morton; Photo – Brendan Hertel/QRU Media

Contender or pretender?

It’s the question asked of every team as some point and Souths are no exception.

After a one and four start, the Magpies have won their last five matches and are now third on the QLD Premier Rugby ladder.

Souths scored seven tries in a 47-28 victory over Sunnybank on Saturday and while coach Elia Tuqiri was thrilled to see his side extend their winning streak, he said the performance was still a long way from perfect.

“We started off well [against Sunnybank], scoring straight from the kick-off. However Sunnybank were able to score three tries back-to-back due to silly errors in our half and a yellow card,” said Tuqiri.

“I was pleased we were able to bridge the gap before half time. We found our rhythm in the second half and scored thirty points to five which was a tremendous effort.

“Our success over the last five weeks can be attributed to our defence and physicality. Besides the weekend, we’ve limited teams to under three tries. Those early losses against the top teams highlighted areas of the game that we needed to address.”

Souths face arguably their toughest task of the season to date on Saturday when they journey to Crosby Park to take on Brothers, a side they lost to by 22 points back in round two.

While they’re in no danger of falling out of the top four this weekend, Tuqiri is adamant that this game is crucial going forward.

“With the ladder being pretty contested from third to seventh, I think every game is extremely important and this week will be no different. It’s obviously a big challenge playing an in-form Brothers team, so we’re going to have to play our best footy if we want the result.

“Brothers have been successful due to their physicality up front with their big pack which has provided front foot ball to their dynamic backline. Defensively they are hard to breakdown. For us it’s about being ready.”

In the weekend’s other matches, Wests returned to their early-season form with a commanding 54-13 win over Norths.

Brothers turned it on in the second half to and claimed a 35-26 win over Bond on the road.

While at Bottomley Park, a try in the 70th minute to Tigers’ winger Liam Matenga proved the difference, as Easts claimed an important 27-17 win over UQ.