By Michael Atkinson. Photo: QRU Media

The battle of the west; the Magpies have their wings clipped; and the Goldie boys find some Golden form – all that and more from the four clashes in round seven of Queensland Premier Rugby.

University of Queensland 45 def. Wests 29

The return of Reds and Junior Wallabies scrum-half Tate McDermott saw Scott Gale moved from number 9 to fullback and didn’t he love the extra space!

Gale scored a double in a more convincing performance than last week.

The Dogs struck first – opening the scoring in the fifth minute with a long range try to Liam Dillon after Brett Gillespie pounced on a loose ball from the Students.

The home side responded through Josh Birch, after some great lead up work by McDermott and Gale.

The blonde halfback put the students in front in the 25th minute and the two sides traded blows before Uni eventually attained the ascendency with a 26-15 lead at half time.

Returning Reds skipper Scott Higginbotham took the field for Wests at the beginning of the second half – his first appearance since 2010 – his presence certainly helping the Doggies stay in the fight.

Wests trailed by just four points with five minutes to go, but two late tries to Uni sealed the victory.

GPS 26 def. Souths 24

The Magpies unbeaten run has come to an end and what an occasion for GPS to do it – in front of more than 600 screaming female supporters on their annual Ladies Day (plus a couple of thousand other spectators).

The Gallopers scored first, with a penalty try from a scrum (surprise, surprise). But Souths found their stride and scored the next three to skip out to a 19-7 lead.

Led by try-scoring Number 8 and captain Michael Richards, the home side hit back with two tries and the teams went into the break locked at 19-all.

GPS openside flanker Matt Gicquel, broke the deadlock mid-way through the second half, diving over in the corner right in front of the Ladies Day marquee to raptures of the female fans, executing a beautiful 5m-lineout move for what would eventually be the match winner.

Word has it, Gicquel didn’t pay for a drink all night.

Bond University 39 def Sunnybank 32

Bond continue to prove to be a nightmare for tipsters. When you think they’re no chance, they come good; when you think they’re money for jam, they get spanked.

Round seven was a case of the former.

After getting dusted two weeks running, you would think Bond would be no match for Sunnybank – but they showed up, muscled up and put up nearly 40 points to dust the Dragons.

Sunnybank got on the board first with a penalty, before Mitch Third sliced through untouched to put the home side on the board. Much like the traffic on the M1, the first half ebbed and flowed with both sides trading tries and penalties before Bond eventually took a 22-18 advantage into the sheds.

The home side asserted their dominance after the breaking skipping out to 34-18 lead deep into the second half and by then it was too late for Dragons to chase them down.

Easts 38 def Norths 10

The Tigers consigned Norths to bottom place on the ladder and moved themselves into the top four with a 28-point victory at David Wilson Field.

It was a try-a-thon for flying Fijian winger Savenaca Totosovau, who bagged a triple for the Tiges.

It was also a card-a-thon with three yellows dished out by referee Shane Barr (two to Easts and one to Norths).

Nick Fogarty used Mick Heenan’s “Scott Gale Law” (though, ‘Foges’ will argue he started it) and shifted regular No.9 Nicholas Chapman to fullback for the  clash.

It looked to have worked early and Easts led by just seven at half time.

But it was all one-way traffic after the break as the Tigers piled on 21 unanswered points in the second term to register their fourth straight victory.