Hunters use bye to prepare for Devils

THE SP Hunters say they will use this bye weekend to review Monday’s 0-34 Kokoda Cup loss to Burleigh Bears and prepare for next Saturday’s round-seven Hostplus Cup clash with reigning champions Norths Devils.
The Kokoda Cup was retained by the Bears following the round-five Anzac Day clash.
Hunters head coach Matt Church was full of pride for the way his players were handling adversity.
“I’m proud of my guys, they are putting in until the 80th minute and we are just getting beaten on rugby league education, not on our ability as a footy team,” he said.
“Obviously, we will own the result, but it just wasn’t our day today – even the bounce of the ball just wouldn’t go our way.
“We’ve got the bye week this week so we’ll take the time to review things, refresh and get ourselves ready for Norths.” Wet weather threatened to dampen the historic annual match-up but both sides adapted to the conditions to produce an entertaining 80 minutes.
Despite what the scoreboard suggests, the South Pacific Brewery-sponsored Hunters earned their share of opportunities, but the difference was Burleigh’s ability to capitalise on field position and weight of possession.
From the kick-off, the Hunters defended an early penalty and worked themselves into good field position, only for an attacking grubber on the last tackle to take an unlucky bounce and end up in Burleigh hands.
A few minutes and another penalty later, Burleigh did what PNG could not when fullback Taine Tuaupiki scored down the Bears’ right edge.
The Hunters responded well after conceding points, working quickly up-field and trapping Burleigh on their own line, courtesy of a pinpoint kick from Jamie Mavoko.
The Bears had too much class though, sustaining pressure and containing whatever the Hunters threw at them in attack before taking their chances down the other end of the field.
The Hunters endured an early injury to centre Benji Kot which ended his afternoon as well as lasting 10 minutes with a man down following Sherwin Tanabi’s sin-binning in the first half. Against a more experienced Burleigh outfit that featured several former National Rugby League stars, a young Hunters side fought bravely until fulltime and will take plenty of learnings from the loss.
Results: Sat, April 23 – Falcons 30 Cutters 10, Jets 32 Devils 36, Pride 30 Dolphins 18; Sun, April 24 – Blackhawks 17 Tweed Heads 4, Tigers 28 Capras 14, Wynnum Manly 18 Magpies 24; Mon, April 25 – Bears 34 Hunters 0.