BROTHERS BRING TEACHERS BACK DOWN TO EARTH
TEACHERS West have had their unbeaten season broken after Brothers scored a gritty 21- 16 victory over the Townsville and District Rugby Union ladder leaders.
The Brethren – reeling from a 19- 7 loss to North World Old Boys the previous weekend – had a point to prove after welcoming back their Queensland Country representatives and stuck to their guns despite conceding an early try, just as they did the last time the teams met.
Brothers are now hoping Saturday’s win will provide the catalyst for a strong end to the season, which features one full round of matches before finals.
“We were just happy to get a win after last weekend’s game, to be honest,” Brothers co- coach Ben Collings said.
“Teachers scored very early, but we reacted much quicker this time and we had great turnover of ball in the ruck.
“We’re starting to make the right decisions in attack and we didn’t panic.
“We’ve always been great with players one on one, but as a team we’ve been struggling to be better as a collective, which Teachers West are very good at.
“But we’re taking the right steps and we have the full round ahead of us to keep improving.”
Brothers had a handful of players involved in the Queensland Country tour this year, as did Teachers West, who went undefeated from 14 rounds of rugby heading into Saturday’s clash.
North Ward maintained their resurgent form against Burdekin and almost scored a win on full time at the Townsville Sports Reserve, but settled for a 28- all draw.
The Old Boys scored a late try just as it appeared Burdekin had done enough to win, but a missed conversion at the death saw both teams share the competition points.
Ross River beat Western Suburbs 35- 26 in the weekend’s other game.