Hunters hammer Ipswich

A BRENDON Gotuno hat-trick and Epel Kapinias double helped the SP Hunters register their first win of the Queensland Intrust Super Cup season with a 44-22 victory against the Ipswich Jets in round two on Saturday.
The eight-try haul by Matthew Church’s men at Bycroft Oval on the Gold Coast indicated the quality of their attack.
Despite trailing 16-18 at halftime, five second-half tries by the Hunters put the game beyond reach for the visitors who only managed to score a consolation four-pointer.
The reminder of the Covid-19 wasn’t far away as the Hunters had to keep their distance from their delighted fans after fulltime after the Queensland Rugby League introduced new protocols following recent coronavirus cases in Brisbane.
But the Hunters are used to adapting to new situations after they spent 31 days in quarantine during the pre-season, preventing them from playing any trial matches.
“We know that our preparation had been challenging,” Matthew Church said after his second win as Hunters coach.
“So today is a reward for the effort that our guys put in even when they were stuck in hotel rooms for a month.
“I’m really happy for the players.
“They’ve worked really hard and they stuck to it today even when Ipswich got some early points.
“We had to find our groove and build pressure.
“And once we did that, we were able to put together some good back-to-back sets.”
Ipswich hooker and former Gold Coast Titan Kierran Mosley opened the scoring in the seventh minute and a successful conversion saw them lead 6-0.
The Hunters responded seven minutes later with a converted Terry Wapi try which levelled the scores.
The Jets hit the lead again in the 20th minute with a converted try to halfback Julian Christian.
It didn’t take long before Epel Kapinias scored a converted try to level the scores again.
Hunters hit the lead for the first time in the match through centre Jokadi Bire who scored his second try of the season.
Despite an unsuccessful conversion by Charlie Simon, the hosts led 16-12.
Minutes before the break, Jets centre Jordan Carriera scored a converted try to give them a two-point lead at halftime.
In the second half, the Hunters stepped up their attack with hard running and quick play-the-balls following utility Edwin Ipape’s introduction at hooker.
The host’s efforts didn’t go to waste as Kapinias completed his double in the 43rd minute.
A successful conversion by Simon saw the Hunters take a 22-18 lead.
Gotuno scored two quick tries in similar fashion in the corner – thanks to some wonderful lead-up play by Ipape, Simon and Watson Boas. Simon successfully converted both tries for a 34-18 lead. Minutes later, Ipape capitalised on slow marker defence and scored a converted try from 15m out to give the Hunters a 40-18 lead.
Jets centre Ben White scored an unconverted consolation try six minutes before fulltime.
Two minutes later, Gotuno worked his magic to complete his treble and seal the win.
“We had discussed our match plan and we knew the areas that we had to play well in and our players stuck with that,” Church said.
“We really started to play Hunters football and the results came for us.
“We have to improve some of our attention to detail.
“But that will happen as we keep working harder.”
The Hunters won’t play for two weeks as the competition pauses for the Easter weekend before they head north to face the Mackay Cutters.
“We’ve been through quite a bit in these first few months of the season, so we’ll use this next week to freshen up and to get ourselves set for the next block of games,” Church said.
“It’s been a solid start for us and we’ll keep improving as the season progresses.”
Hunters 44 – (Brendon Gutono 3, Epel Kapinias 2, Terry Wapi, Jokadi Bire, Edwin Ipape tries; Charlie Simon six goals) Jets 22 – (Kierran Moseley, Julian Christian, Jordan Carriera, Ben White tries; Josh Cleeland three goals)
Results: Sat, March 26 – Bears 28 Cutters 14, Hunters 44 Jets 22, Capras 18 Pride 18; Sun, March 28 – Blackhawks 30 Tigers 0, Devils 26 Dolphins 24, Wynnum Manly 36 Tweed Heads 24, Magpies 26 Falcons 32.