A GRAND REMATCH
A THIRD successive grand final showdown between Gold Coast District Rugby Union arch-rivals Griffith University Colleges and Surfers Paradise is on the cards come September.
The Dolphins swept aside fellow “Big Three” club Helensvale 46-10 on Saturday to prove they are the nearest challenger to ladder leaders Colleges.
Both teams were missing players due to rep duties but it was Surfers who came out firing. “There were still a lot of opportunities that we could have used better too,” said playing coach Kris Burton.
It seems a burning desire has been lit among the Dolphins ranks to avenge their 22-21 loss to Colleges last month – a result that ended their run of 42 straight wins.
“Hopefully we can make up for last time we played them,” Burton said.
“We just didn’t take the right decisions last time against Colleges, which we had done the previous times we played them.
“They’re easy fixes. It is
just a matter of decision making, especially shots at goal, which we have always taken but that game we didn’t and we ended up losing by a point.”
The Hogs believe they are still firmly in the race, however, with their young squad to be lifted by the eventual return of core players.
Their coach Tonga Lea’aetoa – who joined from Surfers in the off-season – conceded his former club were better on the day.
“They are a class outfit. As soon as we made a mistake, they just capitalised on it,” Lea’aetoa said.
“In a weird way, I’m pretty happy that we got this out of the way. There is still a whole another round left.”
Down at Bienvenue Drive, Palm Beach Currumbin lost 20-16 but not before giving Gold Coast Eagles a major scare.
Alleygators coach Anthony Dwyer was happy with his squad’s improvement but couldn’t help but feel for his players who came so close to their second win of 2018.
“It’s one thing for me as a coach to say take some solace from the fact that we are improving – and our players do – but gee it would be nice for them to get a win to really get the benefit of that improvement,” he said.
Coolangatta Tweed pipped Bond Pirates 19-14.