Qld County side seeks redemption after loss

THE U19 Queensland Country Rugby Union side, coached by Burdekin local Fran Lando will be looking to redeem themselves on Saturday after they were dealt a heavy loss to the Maroons.

The squad, which featured three Burdekin locals, JamieJon Gallego, Braedy Vasta and Brock Vasta were defeated 80-14 by the Maroons.

Lando said the boys had limited training as a squad heading into the game which contributed to their heavy loss, but praised the team’s attitude.

“It’s very hard to prepare a team and get them ready to play against opposition like the premier colts in three days but you can only do what you can do,” Lando said.

“It’s hard to be critical of a country team coming together from all different regions and expecting things to gel in three sessions, but we played against a better, higher class opposition.

“It’s good to get a gauge as to where we are at as country people against city guys and it gives us a real indication of how much work we need to do to be able to compete.

“They were good, they all fought well. Nobody gave up, nobody argued, they kept turning up and showed plenty of will.

“We were good when we had the ball in general play but we were physically handled,” he said.

Lando said these tours were great opportunities for the players to be seen by the coaches down there, while also giving them a reality check.

The Queensland Country Rugby Union U19 team will play Brisbane White at 2pm at Judy Holt Park.