Falcons Tohu a new one
Harris and his mates too good for Seagulls
JILLAROOS captain Ruan Sims says she expects the Anzac Test to be a danger game for both Australia and New Zealand as the sides start to build towards the World Cup in November.
Coach Brad Donald yesterday named a team of 20 ahead of Friday night’s clash against emma.greenwood@news.com.au TWEED have reached their lowest ebb in a horror Queensland Cup season, failing to score a point against a Sunshine Coast team stacked with Melbourne Storm recruits.
While they were always going to be under the pump against a Falcons side containing Storm-contracted players including international Tohu Harris and young halves Jahrome Hughes and Riley Jacks, the Seagulls sunk to their lowest ebb in losing 58-0.
Coach Aaron Zimmerle was almost lost for words after the match, with his side unable to replicate their tough training form in the heat of a game.
“They were near as strong as they could be but if you don’t challenge them with the ball, you’re just their cannon fodder, you’re the bodies in front as they try and execute shape,” Zimmerle said.
“We were 43 per cent (completion) in the first half and we tried really hard to stay in it but we needed every bounce of the ball and every completion in the second half to be a chance and we didn’t and they just ran home. “We caused it ourselves. “There were over-riding calls, there were fundamental drops, it’s disappointing when you train and train and train and in the pressure of the game it falls apart.”
After a dismal second half in Townsville a week ago, the Seagulls worked on the fundamentals of the game and aimed just to complete a solid 80 minutes of football. the Kiwi Ferns, part of the Anzac Test double-header in Canberra. And Sims expects a tough test against a Kiwi team desperate to bounce back from a 3-0 loss to the Jillaroos at the Auckland Nines.
“The Anzac Test is an incredible Test match, the hype, the emotion, the energy that surrounds it, it’s one of the best Test matches of the year,” she said.
But that was lost at Piggabeen yesterday, with the Falcons running in 11 unanswered tries, the only solace for the home side that they managed to kick just seven of the conversions.
“The scoreline makes worse,’’ Zimmerle said.
“That’s probably the worst we’ve performed.”
Fullback Taylor Walters was forced off with an ankle injury and head knock, finishing the day on crutches, while Damian Sironen suffered a head knock and did not return to the match, leaving the Seagulls with a severely depleted bench in the second half.
And while they aimed up in the opening stages, Zimmerle said that along was not enough in the sport’s secondtoughest league.
“If I was coaching a schoolboy team and they fronted up physically and tried their best, you’d be patting them on the back,” he said.
“But we’re semi-professional and that’s expected. You put the jersey on knowing that’s what you’ve got to do and then you’ve got to do something with the football to threaten them or at least take some energy out.
“We just gave them all the ball and all the field position to practise their shapes.”
Meanwhile, Burleigh almost turned the corner on a diabolical season, leading the jets deep into their match at North Ipswich Reserve on Saturday before winger Michael Purcell scored the second of his two tries in the 71st minute to seal an 18-12 win.
The Bears were still in the match in the final stages before Ipswich struck. it
“We came away with a clean sweep at the Nines this year - the first team to do it - and they’ve made wholesale changes off the back of that.
“It’ll be interesting to see what they come up with but whatever they throw at us, as long as we stick with our plans, I think we’ll be fine.”
Donald trimmed his squad to 20 after a camp on the Gold Coast last week, with Queensland captain Steph Hancock among those to miss out after pulling up from Saturday night’s final selection match with knee soreness.
Burleigh’s Tazmin Gray also missed the final cut but teen five-eighth Zahara Temara will make her international debut in the No.6 jersey, with former Bears flyer Karina Brown, now at Easts in Brisbane, on the wing.
1. Sam Bremner, 2. Karina Brown, 3. Corban McGregor, 4. Caitlin Moran, 5. Chelsea Baker, 6. Zahara Temara, 7. Simone Smith, 8. Ruan Sims, 9. Brittany Breayley, 10. Heather Ballinger, 11. Renae Kunst, 12. Annette Brander, 13. Simaima Taufu, 14. Ali Brigginshaw, 15. Rebecca Young, 16. Elliana Walton,17. Amelia Kuk, 18. Maddie Studdon, 19. Isabelle Kelly, 20. Kody House