Frustrated Brolgas rue one that got away

THE Townsville Brolgas will be looking to finish the revamped Queensland Country Rugby Championships on a high on their home turf this weekend after a heartbreaking 14-12 loss to Sunshine Coast at Ballymore.

The previously unbeaten Brolgas came out firing against Sunshine Coast after winger Nick Poole took an intercept and raced away to score under the posts for a 7-0 lead.

But it was short lived as fullback Matthew Macaulay hit back for Sunshine Coast before centre Vilikesa Raboiliku found a gap to barge over and give their side a 14-7 halftime lead.

Poole claimed the only try of the second half when he kicked through for himself to score, but Josh Fletcher’s sideline conversion attempt was waved away to keep it at 14-12.

The Brolgas had plenty of chances to hit the front, but they struggled to finish them off through handling errors as Sunshine Coast held on for a nailbiting victory.

It was a disappointing finish to the weekend for Townsville after kicking things off with an entertaining 26-7 win over Darling Downs as Brolgas captain Tom Vinson claimed the bragging rights over his brother and Darling Downs skipper John.

Meanwhile, the Brolgas under-19s endured a tough weekend with a 27-21 loss to Darling Downs before they were kept scoreless in a 34-0 defeat to Sunshine Coast.

Both Brolgas teams will now host Gold Coast at Mike Carney Toyota Park this weekend in their last game of the championships.

tinue on the momentum that we’ve had,” he said.

“I’d much prefer Saints drop the points on Saturday night and we could be a bit more relaxed on Sunday, but it still wouldn’t hurt us to be under pressure and have to really make sure we go out there and get a result.

“Since our loss to Warriors (a month ago) we’ve played quite well and so we’re keen to carry that into the finals this year rather than what happened last year where we dropped off.”