The Canterbury Cup NSW Residents have gone down to Queensland who were able to capitalise off their fast start to the game to win 42-22.
JJ Collins went off with a serious concussion, but thankfully was able to walk off the field and finished the match sitting upright on the bench.
Queensland were first on the board when Zac Santo put in a grubber for himself, re-gathered and threw a beautiful pass to Delouise Hoeter who was able stroll over untouched.
A right-to-left shift allowed Hoeter to go over for his second, before some good support play by Sam Scarlett increased Queensland’s lead to 16-0.
A strong run from Temone Power allowed him brought the score-line up to 22-0 which seemed to be the score going into the half-time break, but some desperate play by NSW where they marched 90 metres up-field and Morgan Harper put in a last-ditch grubber for Beau Fermor to re-gather and get the Blues on the board.
The Blues figured they had to be the first to score in the second half and came out with plenty of energy. Pressure built on Queensland after back-to-back sets defending their line which led to Brian To’o charging onto a Brock Lamb cut-out pass to score in the corner.
A strong run from Dean Britt at the start of the set put the NSW on the front foot, to which he was able to finish when Connor Tracey turned the ball inside for Britt to run a perfect line and plant the ball over for a try.
Josh Cleeland showed fast feet to disrupt the Blues’ momentum and score for Queensland, before Hoeter went over for his hat-trick shortly afterwards.
A Cleeland penalty goal took the margain out to 20, but the short kick-off allowed NSW to regain possession to which they scored when Tracey threw a nice short pass to Keaon Koloamatangi to bully his way over for a try.
A Queensland try at the end sealed the game to win 42-22.
