Courtesy of the QRL
THE Mackay Cutters thrashed the Burleigh Bears 36-10 at Pizzey Park last night to open their account for the 2010 Intrust Super Cup season.
Mackay led 24-0 at half-time and was never threatened after the break.
Cutters coach Paul Bramley was thrilled with the breakthrough victory, which came just a week after his team was beaten 54-24 by competition leaders the Norths Devils.
Despite the lopsided scoreline against the Devils, Bramley insisted that his charges gained a great deal of confidence from the clash.
He felt the Cutters did not get the rub of the green against the Devils, a team he rates as the premiership favourites.
“We got a lot of confidence out of that game because the boys matched Norths for a while there,” Bramley said.
At Pizzey Park last night, it was a case of the Bears trying to “match” it with the rampant Cutters.
With their physical forwards controlling the game nicely in the middle, the visiting side piled on the points in the opening 40 minutes.
Bramley then challenged his team to score the opening points of the second half, and that’s exactly what the Cutters did.
After a tight arm-wrestle, impressive young centre Tyson Martin intercepted a wayward Burleigh pass and ran 70 metres to score.
The try put the result beyond doubt, although Burleigh did rally late with tries to Jimmy Anderson and Nathan Ross.
Both sides made late changes to their starting line-ups before kick off.
Burleigh brought Nick Parfitt back in at fullback for the injured Marty Paulson, while Todd Seymour, Dean Tass and Leeson Ah Mau were added to the Cutters side.
Bramley played Seymour at five-eighth and switched regular halfback Justin Hunt to fullback.
The positional changes worked wonders for the Cutters, who were brilliantly served by their physical forwards.
“I thought our front-row was really good for us,” Bramley said.
“Both Isaak (Ah Mau) and Liam McDonald did their job again.
“Liam has consistently been our best player. We’re really happy with his minutes and quality. Obviously Isaak brings good leadership to the team.”
Bramley said the most pleasing aspect of the victory was that his players did not get “carried away” with the win and kept their celebrations to a minimum.
MACKAY CUTTERS 36 (Tyson Martin 2, Donald Malone, Shane Muspratt, Mitchell Achurch, Darren Griffiths tries; Justin Hunt 6 goals) def BURLEIGH BEARS 10 (Nathan Ross, Jimmy Andersen tries; Nick Parfitt goal) at Pizzey Park.
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