Souths, Jeeps, Easts and UQ all claimed impressive wins on a wet afternoon in Brisbane on Saturday. 

We spoke to the teams to find out what happened from their perspective in round six. 

Photo: QRU Media

Souths 25-20 Bond University

Souths held off a late charge from Bond to claim their second straight win and move within one competition point of the top four. 

After a tight first half in the wet at Chipsy Wood Oval, Bond centre Joey Fittock took an intercept and ran 95 metres to score his second try of the afternoon and give his side a 13-8 lead. 

Souths began to dominate territory midway through the second half and scored two tries from close range through Theo Fourie and Harley Fox, then added a penalty goal to take a 25-13 lead. 

Bond hit back in similar fashion in the 72nd minute to reduce the gap to five points and attacked inside Souths quarter in the final stages. 

But there was no way through a determined Magpies defensive line and Souths held on for a five point win. 

“It was another tough and physical game in wet conditions,” Souths coach Elia Tuqiri said. 

“The boys showed a lot of character again in defence, especially in those last few minutes.”

Tuqiri singled out his halves, Jayden Ngamanu and Jake Strachan who won the territory battle on the wet track.  

“Our scrum also improved dramatically and we were able to hold our own for the majority the game. We were a lot tighter as a unit and our body positioning was much better than it was last week.”

GPS 38-12 Norths

The GPS forwards produced a masterclass in wet weather rugby to help the defending premiers claim a convincing 38-12 win on a wet and heavy track at Yoku Road. 

Jeeps scored two tries from five metre scrums and added a third from an impressive 20 metre driving maul to set up the win.

Flanker Matt Giquel scored two of his sides seven tries in the Gallopers fourth straight win. 

Norths were unable to replicate their efforts of a week earlier when they stunned UQ in the second half. 

Jeeps take on Sunnybank next week ahead of a mouth watering top of the table clash against rivals Brothers in round eight. 

Easts 29-21 Wests

Easts bounced back from a poor performance against Souths to upset Wests 29-21 and claim their third win of the season. 

The Tigers dominated possession and territory in the opening quarter but couldn’t find a way through the Wests’ defence. 

That changed after 25 minutes and Easts took a 15-0 lead to the half time break after scoring twice, through Preston Springhall and Keeghan Sefton, in five minutes to swing momentum in their favour. 

Hunter Paisami got the home side on the board early in the second half with a huge right foot step, but Easts seemed to be more eager than their opponents. 

Phoenix Hunt dived over to increase Easts lead after a brilliant kick chase from Aiden Leeming and when Matt Gordon crossed three minutes later, the result was beyond doubt. 

Wests scored two late tries, but it was little but consolation as Easts claimed an important bonus point win.

“We started really slowly and struggled to get into the game. In the second half we did okay to fight back but unfortunately our poor first half meant we were never able to really get back into the contest,” Wests coach Pat Byron told Rugby News. 

“Easts defended well, had a really good scrum and just controlled the ball really well, especially in the first half.”

While Byron was disappointed with his side’s effort, the coach said the Bulldogs will move on quickly. 

“In our previous games, win or loss, I think the intent has been really good but it just wasn’t there on the weekend,” he said. 

“For us, we just have to move on from the loss and now concentrate solely on Bond who are going to be really tough at home.”

UQ 40-10 Sunnybank

UQ scored 33 unanswered second half points to end a two match losing streak and jump back into the top four. 

The Students had leaked 106 points in their previous two matches but looked to have solved their defensive woes early and went to the half time break up 7-5 in wet conditions at State de Heavy. 

Last year’s grand finalists then showed their attacking flare and scored five unanswered tries to put the result beyond doubt before conceding a late five pointer.

“It was a pretty tight and willing contest for the first 40-50 minutes and the conditions meant holding onto the ball was critical,” Sunnybank coach Damon Virtue told Rugby News. 

“To UQ’s credit, they were better at that than us in the second half and were more urgent and clinical than we were.”

Virtue said he was disappointed that his team wasn’t able to play out the 80 minutes, but said there were a handful of impressive individual performances.

“Our backrowers Joel Brown and Dillon Wihongi tried hard all day. I thought Sam Wallis and TJ Siakisini were both very good for UQ as well.”