Both Sunnybank and Souths were left to rue a number of missed opportunities in the closing stages of a thrilling but exhausting 26-all draw at Chipsy Wood Oval. 

Sunnybank led 14-0 early in the match, then 26-14 inside the final 10 minutes, but were forced to share the points with a Magpies’ outfit who refused to go away. 

“We just can’t get across the line to win at the moment,” frustrated Sunnybank coach Rob Roiri told Rugby News. 

“We’ve been there or thereabouts quite a bit this season but we just can’t finish it off. 

“In saying that, it was a massive improvement on our performance from the week earlier.

“Our effort was fantastic and you can see the boys fighting and giving everything and we weren’t doing that at the same level last season. 

Returning Reds’ forward Taine Roiri crossed to claim his hat trick in the 72nd minute to give his side a 26-14 lead before the wheels fell off for the Dragons. 

Souths hit back through centre Vilikesa Raboiliku, then attacked from deep inside their own half in the final minutes. 

After moving play down the field, the Magpies levelled the scores through a converted try to winger Tye James. 

Then with a chance to win the game, Souths No.9 Finn Hearn spilled the ball with no one around him, bringing to an end, a match, that neither side seemed to want to win. 

Roiri said experience hurt his young side in the closing minutes. 

“When you don’t have experience, it makes it really hard to ice those key moments at the end of tight games. 

“But I’m really looking forward to the second round to tell you the truth because we’ll be able to add a bit of experience to our side and I think we can be really competitive. 

“We’ve got a few guys coming back from stints in Japan, we’ll also hopefully get some Reds back and I think that will really help our younger guys learn how to deal with those stressful moments. 

Roiri was full of praise for his flyhalf Liam McNamara, but said the No.10 needed some help around him. He was also happy with the Dragons’ scrum and lineout on Saturday. 

“Winning our set piece made a big difference. It always does in rugby and we were good at lineout time. With Taine calling and adding a bit of height, that has really helped,” the coach said. 

“Then at scrum time, our forwards just really locked in and that allowed us to give our backs some quality ball. 

“We’ve got an incredible back line that loves to attack and if we can give them, even just 50% of the ball, they are good enough to do the rest.”

Sunnybank face UQ next weekend ahead of a bye to close out the opening round of the season and Roiri said his side will take plenty of confidence into the clash. 

“We’ll be up for it, but we need to do the small things right. It’s those one percenters at the end of games that have been costing us and we need to fix that. 

“The competition is so open this year and there are good quality teams right across the board. Everyone is playing an attacking style and that’s led to some high scores, which is always good to watch. 

“But we want to be winning, not just enjoying our rugby and that’s what we’re looking to do this week against UQ.”

In the weekend’s other matches, Brothers scored five tries to beat Wests 31-12 in a grand final rematch from last season. 

Elsewhere, Easts No.7 Henry Wilson scored on full time to help the Tigers claim a 28-27 victory over Bond and GPS defeated Norths 55-22.