Toowoomba caught short by Norths
Devils

NORTHS DEVILS 42 defeat TOOWOOMBA CLYDESDALES 22

A stunning second half blitz by Norths has left Toowoomba ruing a missed opportunity and breathed hope into the near-unconscious seasons of Tweed Heads, Easts and Wynnum.

The fifth-placed Clydesdales had the perfect chance to open up a four-point buffer over Tweed and increase their margin over the Tigers and Seagulls to five points, given favourable results on the weekend.

However it came to no avail as they let slip an 18-12 halftime lead to end up 42-22 losers.

?An opportunity was presented and we failed to grasp it,? Toowoomba coach John Dixon said.

?The whole place is disappointed with the end result.?

A blistering long-range effort from Ryan Shortland (pictured) just 50 seconds after halftime was credited with swinging the momentum Norths? way, providing the first of five tries in the second stanza.

While the high-quality affair saw plenty of completions for both sides, the Devils sensed they had greater room for improvement, given half Luke Millwood was a touch erratic in early exchanges.

And just as Norths began to execute with greater precision, Toowoomba allowed itself to become frustrated with errors and line-ball judgments. Injuries to Michael Ryan, Joe Clarke, Zac Chisholm and Michael Bond further hampered the Clydesdales? cause.

Norths did not escape without harm either, suffering shoulder knocks to both Shortland and Aaron Morgan.

Playing his first game back in Queensland Cup for several weeks, try-scoring machine Greg Inglis somewhat amazingly failed to cross the stripe, although he was composed in kicking seven goals.

?Inglis was okay, but not outstanding,? coach Wayne Treleaven said.

?The most important thing was that we didn?t rely on him. I couldn?t complain with today?s effort, particularly when we allowed them just four points in that second half.?

Hooker Nathan Friend was the pick of the bunch for Norths, while Anthony Boyd, Aaron Bulow, Josh Tatupu and Shortland were also shining lights. Toowoomba?s most impressive was former soccer star and rookie winger Denan Kemp, the scorer of two wonderful tries.

As the road to the finals progresses, Norths is at home to Wynnum next Sunday, while Toowoomba tackles Easts at Langlands Park on Saturday.

NORTHS 42 (Nathan Friend 2, Josh Tatupu, Ryan Shortland, Anthony Boyd, Adam Blair, Peter Robinson tries; Greg Inglis 7 goals)

beat

TOOWOOMBA 22 (Denan Kemp 2, Nick Parfitt, Derricke Watkins tries; Nick Parfitt 3 goals)

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