Pride triumph sets stage for Blackhawks showdown
A VOW to “fight fire with fire” from front rowers Will Bugden and Darryn Schonig has set the platform for a season of promise following Pride’s 26- 14 win against PNG Hunters.
The reigning premiers were forced into uncharacteristic errors thanks to relentless Pride defence at Barlow Park on Saturday night.
But it was a 1 per cent play from a wily veteran nearing halftime that told the story of just how far the Pride have come and why they will be a problem for every Queensland Cup opponent in 2018.
As a Jake Clifford kick looked bound for a 40/ 20, the Hunters desperately kept the ball in play, all while Brett Anderson stormed upfield to pressure the visitors, who fumbled under his shadow.
It proved a game- changing moment when Shawn Bowen scored his second try and the Pride never looked back, even surviving a brief PNG comeback attempt over 15 minutes in the second half.
Northern Pride coach Ty Williams said it was nothing more than “a good win” while taking a shot at those who gave his side no hope after the loss of four regular starters.
“I don’t really care what they think. To tell you the truth, it does not worry me. Their opinions don’t worry us,” he said.
“In- house is what worries us and that’s where we’re heading as a group – what’s in our control, that’s all we’re worrying about.”
While the opening stages of the game were sloppy, Williams was most proud of the way the Pride got over it and forced the issue at the right end of the field, with and without the ball.
“I thought in the first half our defensive pressure put them under a lot of pressure and they forced errors, so I think that gassed them a bit and I thought Bugden and Schonig did a really good job through the middle early on with Ryan Ghietti and ‘ Tiger’ ( Graham Clark),” he said.
Ghietti said Bugden, who played the first 50 minutes straight, and Schonig set up the game in the first half.
The Pride captain said the win proved to the players the impact of buying into Williams’s game plan and wanted to see it again against the Blackhawks this weekend.
“We just need to do what we did this week, really buy into what he says and the game plan that’s going to work for us and if we get the same buy- in, we should get the same result in Townsville,” Ghietti said.