By KEVIN BRAYSHER
FOR the third year in a row the Tugun Seahawks are going to the Bycroft Cup grand final after they defeated they arch rivals Bilambil 31-10 at Boyd Street on Sunday.
The Seahawks kept the Jets scoreless in the second half in a performance that pleased coach Selwyn Apanui who has been in charge of all three grand final teams.
“I thought we were clinical today,” he said.
“Last week Southport exposed a few areas that we needed to improve and today I think we really improved on those areas.
“Bilambil can be a very clinical team and they showed that last week against Burleigh. We knew we needed to be on our game and now here we are in the last week of the competition.
“We seem to lift against Bilambil since we got our pants pulled down by them five times in the one season a couple of years ago. I think the Tugun/Bilambil relationship is a fairly bumpy one.”
It was certainly a fiery game early as the Bilambil Jets made their intentions clear.
They were beaten comprehensively by Tugun just two weeks prior but weren’t going to back down or be intimidated this time around.
They traded tries in the first half, Dan Webb and Wade Merritt scoring for the Seahawks while Jimmy Anderson and Guy Lanston crossed for the Jets, with Tugun taking a two-point lead into the break.
With a very strong wind behind them in the second half the Seahawks didn’t give the Jets a sniff as they worked their way towards the grand final.
Winger Joel Sykes scored three tries in a row between the 50th and 67th minute to put the result beyond doubt.
He combined extremely well on the left side with Keanu TeKiri and Bodie Clarke who were also stand outs.
A try to Travis Barry at the death-knock was a celebratory moment for the Seahawks who will take on Southport in next Sunday’s grand final at Pizzey Park.
In the last two years the Seahawks have gone down in golden point of the grand final and they will be hoping that with largely different group of players they will be able to go one better in 2013.
“Obviously there are a few boys that played in the last couple, a few boys that haven’t and we’ve got one bloke who played against us last year (Martin Griese who played for Burleigh),” he said.
“Southport are going to be tough, they’re going to be strong. We need to make sure we compete for 80 minutes and hopefully we don’t go to golden point.”
In other results today Burleigh advanced to the reserve grade grand final with a 20-12 win over Bilambil while in the 19s Bilambil went down again this time to Tugun 24-22.
The Bycroft Cup grand finals will be held at Pizzey Park next Sunday 8 September. First grade kicks off at 3pm.
TUGUN SEAHAWKS 31 (J. Sykes 3, D. Webb, W. Merritt, T. Barry tries K. TeKiri 3 goals, V. Buatavafield goal) d BILAMBIL JETS 10 (J. Anderson, G. Lanston tries T. Canning goal).
http://www.facebook.com/goldcoastrugbyleague; http://twitter.com/kevinbraysher
PRELIMINARY FINAL, SUNDAY 1 SEPTEMBER
UNDER 19
TUGUN 24 (tries: J. Gallagher 2, S. Burgess, A. Thompson, J. Veli; goals: R. Glover 2) d BILAMBIL 22 (tries: L. Garner 2, K. Pereria, J. Welsh; goals: B. O’Gorman 3).
RESERVES
BURLEIGH 20 (tries: J. Sabin, R. Edwards, D. Wilson; goals: J. Campbell 2, J. Sabin 2) d BILAMBIL12 (tries: D. Willoughby, J. O’Brien; goals: B. Ghosn).
