Victory has Souths in pursuit of top 6
Souths could feature in the finals race deep in the season after downing Wattles in their crucial Hutchinson Builders TRL Premiership clash at Clive Berghofer Stadium.
The Tigers ran away with the vital two competition points on the way to posting a 36-22 win over the Warriors yesterday.
Heading into the game, a loss would have all but cruelled Souths’ finals chances but a win over fellow finals hopeful Wattles keeps the Tigers in the hunt with five rounds to play.
Souths (eight points) are two wins behind Gatton and Warwick (12 points) in equal fifth, with Wattles (10 points) seventh.
“It keeps us alive. I spoke to the boys earlier and this was do-or-die for us today,” Souths coach Daniel Holmes said.
“The fact that we’ve come out with a win keeps our season alive and we’re pretty stoked with that.”
Souths held a 16-12 lead at half-time before a Jarred Bradfield try just after the break levelled the scores at 16-16 with 35 minutes left.
Three-straight tries then put Souths in control and they closed out the win.
Dylan Collins ran in a hat-trick for the Tigers to go with a double in reserve grade, so he had a big day with a combined five tries.
Holmes was also happy with new halfback Dwayne Duncan and Kyle Petersen, but a lack of ball control was a disappointing feature of the win.
“We dropped the ball way too many times. If we can get that under control, I think we’ll be competitive,” he said.
Meanwhile, Gatton moved up to fifth on the ladder with a 49-16 win over Oakey.
Dom Haak, Riley Godwin and Josh Belz scored doubles for the Hawks.