July 18, 2022
South Burnett Thrashers notched up a hard-fought 31-17 victory on the road on Saturday.
The men travelled to St George to play the Roma Echidnas as part of the Frillneck Lizards’ “Ladies Day”.
“This was a big game for us as Roma sit one position above us on the ladder,” club president Jamie Shirlaw said.
“For us to get an easier run into the finals we need to win all of our remaining games.
“The Roma team was physically larger than the South Burnett team and have had a good run of wins recently.
“We started slowly letting in two quick tries. The team then had to change our tactics to play more of a positional game and turn the much bigger team around.
“This allowed our smaller, fitter forwards to run wider off the ruck and our backs to get the upper hand.”
The Thrashers kept the bigger Roma team away from the tryline for the rest of the first half and most of the second.
“Our intelligence around the ruck was fantastic, knowing when to leave it alone and knowing when to put pressure on them,” Jamie said.
“We came away with a lot of pilfered ball.
“The team dug in after a long five-hour bus ride to get a hard-fought win.
“Really smart rugby is what ultimately won it for us in the end and a tad of luck helped along the way as well.”
Try scorers for the Thrashers were Nikolao Petueli (2), Sata Tale and Marcus Jensen.
Jensen’s try took him past 100 points for the season: 12 tries, 20 conversions and one penalty kick.
Petueli was named best on field, getting three points with Jensen getting two and Ryan McDonald getting one.
Next Saturday, the Thrashers will hit the road again … this time to Toowoomba to take on the Toowoomba Bears.
