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The late inclusion of Wallabies scrumhalf Will Genia was not enough to save Norths from a devastating 59-19 loss to Easts  at Bottomley Park in the final round of Queensland Premier rugby.

Instead it was another QR Reds player who put his stamp on the game, with Easts fullback Aidan Toua celebrating his return from injury by scoring three tries and setting up at least one other.   

It was a game that clearly belonged to the home side with the Tigers dominating on attack and defence.

Easts’ scrum half Dom Fuller scored the first try of the day, breaking through to score under the posts. Tigers’ flanker Josh Parry then added to the score with a mauling try from a lineout before Toua set up their third try by breaking through for a quick offload to centre David Skelton.

Norths prop Alexander Cousner posted first points for the Eagles to narrow the gap to 19-7 but Easts’ Toby White and Matt Brandon upped the ante for a score of 33-7 at half-time.

Aware of the need to maximise their for and against points to have any chance of making the finals, Easts kept the foot on the pedal in the second half, with Toua coming to the fore.

His spellbinding dash for the tryline in the first minutes of the second half wowed the crowd, with two more tries of the same nature to his name later on.

When Eagles wing Robson Brunt was sin binned in the second half for a dangerous tackle all hope of a Norths revival went with him. 

However, numerous handling errors by Easts did allow the visitors to make the score more respectable, with the Eagles’ Utu Maninoa and Carlos Gavidi scoring tries in the second half.

Norths coach Lew Price was left lamenting his team’s loss but praising the efforts of the young players Norths have blooded in recent weeks due to the loss of several senior players. 

“Again it’s the same problem we’ve had all year but the good thing today is we had a lot of young guys coming through, guys having their first games for us from the Colts and whatnot, and that’s good for the future of the club,” Price said.

“We lost Michael Bond and Blair Connor and Sione Faumuina either through injury or left to go overseas so we’ve just had to cope with what we’ve got.”

Easts coach Pat Richards celebrated a well-deserved win with his team at the season’s end.

“We were pleased with winning, we’ve played a lot better the last three weeks and the boys finished the season on a winning note but we didn’t do enough to get into the semis unfortunately,” Richards said.

“Disappointing, but at least we finished the way we started and look forward to next year now.”

Easts 59 (A Toua 3, D Fuller, J Parry, D Skelton, T White, M Brandon, J Wilder tries M Brandon 7 cons) d Norths 19 (A Cousner, U Maninoa, C Gavidi tries J Harris 2 cons)

Match report by Amy Hutchinson