UQ extended their unbeaten run to six matches and are now second on the Hospital Cup ladder and after holding off a late charge from Souths in a fairly incredible 59-50 victory at Chipsy Wood Oval. 

Both sides traded tries in a seesawing first half and went to the break locked up a 26-a piece. 

But Uni flexed their muscle early in the second half and scored five tries to lead 59-33 with 12 minutes remaining. 

Souths responded though and scored three tries in the final five minutes in a 109-point try-fest.  

“We were really poor in our management of field position and in our contact areas in the first half and they were pretty obvious fixes that we needed to make at half time,” UQ coach Elton Berrange told Rugby News. 

“Fortunately, we were a lot better in those areas for large parts of the second half and we got out to a bit of a lead. 

“We made a lot of subs at that point and started thinking about the weeks ahead and Souths took full advantage and came home with a wet sail. We didn’t manage that as well as we should have. 

“It was a pretty disappointing finish but fortunately we played 30 good minutes at the start of the half and got the result.”

Berrange admitted his side were a little deflated in the sheds after conceding three late tries but remained confident his coaching staff made the right decision to get key players off the field with more than 10 minutes remaining. 

“We thought we had control of the game and tried to manage our roster as a result of that. If there was longer to go in the game, we wouldn’t have made as many subs as we did and we would have been more cautious. 

“In saying that, we need to work on putting the foot down when we get out to a lead and we’re not there yet. 

“It’s something we’re conscious of and something we’re working on.”

UQ had a mixed start to the season and were 4-4 at the halfway point of the competition.

But the Red Heavies haven’t lost since, beating Wests, Norths, GPS and Souths and drawing 26-all with competition leaders Brothers in recent weeks. 

“We always knew we had it in us but it just wasn’t taking shape for a little while there,” Berrange explained. 

“For us it’s been all about our fundamentals, we haven’t done anything revolutionary, the players have just gone back to working really hard on the basics and we’re reaping the rewards of that at the moment.”

UQ have a bye this weekend, then face Sunnybank and Bond in the final rounds and could potentially take plenty of momentu into a Major Semi Final clash against Brothers if they can win their remaining two regular season matches. 

“Its great timing for the bye because we’ve got quite a few bodies within the group. But we’re still trying to take things one week at a time and not get ahead of ourselves. 

“We play Sunnybank in their last game of their season after the bye, then we play Bond in their final game of the season and both sides will want to finish their years strongly. 

“Finals footy has a bit of a different type of intensity so as that gets closer, we’ll try to manufacture some of that intensity in training so that we’re not taken by surprise when we reach the finals.”

In the rounds other matches, Bond scored three tries in the final 10 minutes but fell just short in a 42-40 loss to competition leaders Brothers that all but ends the Bull Sharks hopes of playing finals footy this season. 

Elsewhere, Wests beat GPS 27-14 and Easts defeated Sunnybank 41-17. 

With two rounds remaining, GPS are fifth, five points outside of the top four with just two matches to play. 

Jeeps will need to Norths and Brothers on either side of a bye and hope that Wests or Souths slip up in their remaining matches to lead frog either side into the playoffs.