Quite a good crowd was present early on Queensland Cup Grand Final day at Suncorp Stadium to see minor Premiers Norths take on Springwood on a warm September morning. Norths went into the match having defeated Springwood in all their four previous 2004 meetings, but Springwood certainly had the edge in Grand Final experience, this being most players fourth in a row. Springwood were hit hard by the unavailability of representative centre Daniel Isaac who injured an ankle in last week's come-from behind preliminary final win over Redcliffe.
Both teams played steadily for the opening sets, although both made a couple of uncharacteristic mistakes, perhaps a case of grand final nerves. One of these mistakes led to the first try of the match when Norths got a repeat set, and Luke Samoa scored. Josh Costello's conversion gave the Devils a 6-0 lead after 9 minutes. A similar mistake from Norths also gifted Springwood field position 5 minutes later and they made no mistake, a fine flat, wide pass from Matt Smith putting Matt Reynolds over in the corner. to narrow the margin to 2. The rest of the half belonged to the Devils with Springwood missing a lot of tackles and only poor finishing costing Norths points. Despite their 50% completion rate, Norths did manage one more try with Will Chambers scoring after a quick play the ball from a Josh Costello break. At half time the score was 10-4 to the minor premiers, and the game still looked in the balance.
Norths extended their lead early in the second half when Jozey Stubicar leapt spectacularly to take a bomb, planting it behind him over the line. This seemed to inspire Norths, and with their handling improving the next 10 minutes was a procession to the tryline. Firstly Josh scored after an Isaac Schwenke break, then Kieran Turner bagged a double, the first a fine individual effort, and the second after the ball was spread wide to the right. With 14 minutes to go it was 28-4 to the Devils and it looked as though the score could end up a real embarrassment. To Springwood's credit however they fought back, with Fraser Evans and Matt Reynolds both scoring after breaks by Jay Aston, then Fraser Evans scoring again with 3 minutes remaining after the Tigers got a repeat set in the Devil's 20. Unfortunately for them it was too little, too late and Norths had wrapped up a deserved premiership with a 28-18 win.
Unfortunately the game never reached the heights of some of the great clashes we have had in the competition during the year, but it certainly showcased the great skills of the players in our comp, and both sides should be congratulated for putting in 100% through the whole 60 minutes, in what was a fiercely fought contest, played with great discipline and sportmanship.
Minute by minute:
8th min: Luke Samoa try/Josh Cotello conv; Norths 6-0
15th min: Matt Reynolds try; Norths 6-4
20th min: Will Chambers try; Norths 10-4
FIRST HALF STATS: Penalties: Springwood 2-1; Completions: Norths 9/18 (50.0%); Springwood 11/16 (68.8%)
34th min: Jozey Stubicar try; Norths 14-4
39th min: Josh Costello try/conv; Norths 20-4
41st min: Kieran Turner try; Norths 24-4
46th min: Kieran Turner try; Norths 28-4
49th min: Fraser Evans try/Travis Gaskin conv; Norths 28-10
55th min: Matt Reynolds try; Norths 28-14
57th min: Fraser Evans try; Norths 28-18
SECOND HALF STATS: Penalties: Springwood 3-1; Completions: Norths 8/9 (88.9%); Springwood 8/11 (72.7%))
TOTAL STATS: Penalties: Springwood 5-2; Completions: Springwood 17/27 (63.0%); Springwood 19/27 (70.4%)
OTHER STATS:
Scrums: Norths 9-5
Errors: Norths 9-7
Handovers: Springwood 2-0
Missed Tackles: Springwood 35-15
Line Breaks: Norths 9-3
Kicks Genl Play: Norths 10-8
Tackles in Possession: Norths 101 Springwood 89
Possession in Opp Half: Norths 42 Springwood 38
Possession in Opp 20: Norths 16 Springwood 17
Goal Kicking: Norths: Josh Costello 2/5; Jacob Fauid 0/1; Springwood: Ben Edwards 0/1; Travis Gaskin 1/2; Matt Smith 0/1.
Brad T
13/9/2004
