Hunters shock Blackhawks

THE SP Hunters produced a 42-20 win over hosts Townsville Blackhawks at Jack Manski Oval in round eight of Queensland’s Hostplus Cup at Jack Manski Oval on Friday night.
The Hunters were slow to start in the slippery conditions, but scrambled well to defend an early Blackhawks’ line-break through the middle of the field.
They could not defend consecutive knock-on, penalty and six-again infringements that came next though, with Townsville capitalising on field position to open the scoring with a well-weighted grubber into the in-goal for Jaelen Feeney.
The Hunters’ ability to defend their own line was tested again shortly after, with ill-discipline and poor handling gifting Townsville multiple attacking sets near the South Pacific Brewery-sponsored side’s tryline.
Despite the weight of possession and field position, however, the Blackhawks would be denied by a resolute Hunters defensive unit which seemed to improve as the game continued.
Having soaked up a mountain of pressure, the Hunters worked up-field, thanks to a clever run from Wartovo Puara Jr that drew a penalty before Dilbert Isaac charged into the defence for a 20m carry that had Townsville retreating towards their own tryline.
Before they could react, a pinpoint kick from Mark Tony down the left found a flying Matthew Jesse in support and the Hunters were on the board.
The Hunters struck again just four minutes later when Sylvester Namo charged onto a short ball from Puara and went over almost untouched besides the left post.
The Blackhawks responded through Jordan Lipp in the 27th minute.
A smooth right-side movement had the Hunters sliding on their own line and some nice footwork from Lipp found space back on the inside to score in the right corner.
The Hunters came storming out of the gates in the second half to take a 10-point lead, thanks to tries from Anthony Worot and Brandon Nima.
Worot latched onto an offload from Samuel Yegip through the line to score next to the posts before Junior Rop produced another offload on the left edge which put Terry Wapi down the touchline.
A clever kick back on the inside found captain Nima who slid over the line to score.
The Blackhawks kept themselves in the fight following a try to Aaron Moore in the 51st minute, but a barnstorming run from Emmanuel Waine midway through the second half broke the deadlock.
Waine pushed through three Blackhawks defenders and engaged another two before finding fellow forward Namo in support for a well-deserved try.
Solo Wane and Waine scored next for the Hunters, but it was Runaway Bay Seagulls’ product and Papua New Guinea Kokomos member Tyler Han who scored a try on debut to seal the result for the Hunters. Hunters head coach Matt Church was delighted, but not surprised with the performance.
“We’ve been building towards a game like that and it’s nice to see it pay off,” he said.
“We had a plan to target the middle and I think we probably missed our mark with that in the first half.
“Credit to the players though for sticking at it in the second 40.
“I think the points came off the back of that.
“It’s encouraging to execute a few things we identified during the week.
“It’s a great lesson for the players that when we stick to our processes, we’ll get the results that we want.
“We’re just really happy for everyone across the group.
“This is just reward for our efforts.”
Results: Fri, May 13 – Blackhawks 20 Hunters 42; Sat, May 14 – Tweed Heads 28 Pride 0, Wynnum Manly 56 Jets 4, Devils 17 Capras 12, Dolphins 32 Magpies 0, Bears 28 Cutters 8; Sun, May 15 – Falcons 22 Tigers 14.