Qld Country U20 win first up
The QR Queensland Country Under 20's have opened the Rugby WA Tournament with a 15-10 win over Victoria, built on the foundation of a strong scrum.
With both teams playing their first match together, the two sides struggled for cohesion for the first 25 minuted before Country was the first to click with a well worked backline movement that ended with Sunshine Coast centre Kyle Beakey crossing close to the posts.
Victoria struck back straight away and overtook the Queensland side, leading 10-7 at the break.
Country began to gain the ascendancy in the second half, dominating possession and field position off the back of an improved set piece.
The sustained pressure lead to a penalty by the Gold Coast's Andy Hollis early in the second half to level the scores, before Townsville outside centre Ben Douglas regathered his own kick ahead to score out wide.
The man of the match and players' player was Country loose head prop Hadn Hirsimaki who was dominant in defence throughout the match and the corner stone of a dominant Country scrum.
The QR Country U20's next match is on Wednesday against the WA state side.
QR Queensland Country U20 v Victoria:
1. Hadn Hirsimaki (Sunshine Coast)
2. Josh Cooper (Gold Coast)
3. Reynor Guildford (Sunshine Coast)
4. Bryden Lang (Sunshine Coast)
5. Michael Lund (Townsville)
6. Kingsley Lang (Sunshine Coast)
7. Sam Munsie (Darling Downs)
8. Ryan Brown (Darling Downs)
9. Josh Bruce (Cairns)
10. Andy Hollis (Gold Coast)
11. Tovio Perez (Townsville)
12. Kyle Beakey (Sunshine Coast)
13. Ben Douglas (Townsville)
14. Marshall Suckling (Gold Coast)
15. Joel Sykes (Gold Coast)
16. Steven Reddy (Townsville)
17. Josh Den Elzen (Gold Coast)
18. Blair Campbell (Townsville)
19. Tom Gordon (Gold Coast)
20. Justin Humphreys (Townsville)
21. Lachlan Jenson (Darling Downs)
22. Apatia Matalua (Townsville)
23. Tobias Rissman (Gold Coast)
