By Liam Cook

Another barnstorming clash between last year’s grand finalists has given new life to UQ’s season.

Prevailing – over the top of the table Wests, the Student’s ground out a brilliant win to ensure their finals’ flame keeps flickering.

Coach Elton Berrange was particularly impressed with his men’s resolve and calmness under the Bulldogs’ immense heat.

“I’m pleased we managed to close out a tight game yesterday. It was such a tough contest,” Berrange told Rugby News.

“Wests are defending premiers for a reason, and they put us under enormous pressure.

“It was noticeable how much more composed we were during long periods of pressure and that we stuck at it and got the job done.”

Reinforcements for both sides meant the contest was true heavyweight fight.

Returning Super Rugby players for the Bulldogs and Students made vital impacts and more closely resembled the lineups in last year’s grand final.

“The Reds’ players in both teams really stepped up with Connor Anderson, Seru Uru, Lopeti Faifua and Ben Navosailagi playing really well for Wests, while Kalani Thomas and Mac Grealy had a great impact for us.

“It was also great to welcome Adam Korczyk back from the UK, Reece Tapine from the Force and Chris Minimbi from the Drua.”

Victory for UQ breathes life into the back half of their campaign, although they will be starting from a distance back in seventh place.

Buoyed by their display against highly touted opponents, the Red Heavies will now ride the wave of momentum and returning players to make a major tilt at finals.

“We’re under no illusions how tough the rest of the season will be from here; we’ve got Easts next week and that’ll be a huge challenge for us.

“We know we need to win every game from here and rely on a few other results to go our way if we’re going to make finals.

“The connection and belief in the team is fantastic and I hope that we can build on our performance against Wests and take it up another level this weekend.”