Feeder teams both victorious

Burleigh Bears fullback Henare Wells had an extraordinary game on Sunday scoring a club record of six tries to help the Bears beat the last-placed Sunshine Coast Falcons 60-6 and put themselves well into finals contention.

The Bears fullback now has 13 tries in his last four appearances.

His soaring form has outshone iSelect Titans contracted winger Anthony Don who recorded his second hat-trick in two games since going back to the Bears.

This win made it three in a row for the Bears for the first time in more than two seasons and puts them outside the top five by just one point. With experienced players Matt Keating, Nafe Seluini and Dimitri Pelo and Matt Beddow going down with a leg injury 20 minutes in, the score line was even more impressive.

Titans prop Mark Ioane, one of the strong performers in the match, has been greatly impressed with Wells’ form in recent weeks.

“Some of his tries were brilliant individual tries and others were from good support play, latching on to some breaks in the middle,” said Ioane. “It was good to see him flying at his best.”

He said the Bears’ sudden lift in form had a lot to do with the tight team culture new coach Jim Lenihan has instilled. “Jim has brought a good culture to the team, we’re a lot tighter and doing more together off the field and getting the partners involved; we feel we’re getting closer as a team and he’s got a simply game plan which is good for us.

“’Boogie’ (Don) has been great for us too. We’re hitting him at the right time on the edge and he was just too fast or strong. He’s obviously unlucky not to be in first grade but he’s doing all he can to push his claims.

“And as long as we are performing well and keep winning, we know that is going to help our chances of getting into the [Titans] side.”

Meanwhile, the Tweed Head Seagulls landed their eighth win in a row, beating the Ipswich Jets 32-28.

Ipswich scored first after 16 minutes, giving them a 4-0 lead, but iSelect Gold Coast Titans Kalifa Faifai Loa answered right back and Jamal Fogarty converted.

After 30 minutes, the visitors scored again giving them the lead for only a short time. Tweed wingers Tom Merritt scored, followed by Pele Peletelese, giving the Seagulls an 18-10 lead at half-time.

The Seagulls started strong the second half when Titan Cody Nelson scored after a dropped kick-off by the Jets. The conversion was successful giving the Seagulls a 22-10 lead after 44 minutes.

Within the next eight minutes, the game was back to 22-all and the rest of the game was back and forth, both teams waiting patiently for their chance to score. The last five minutes was a frantic battle, but the Seagulls came away with the 32-28 win over the Jets.

One downside of the match was that Ryan James aggravated his shoulder injury and looks like being sidelined again. He has been unable to put a string of games together this season and will visit a specialist to decide what the best treatment is for the injury.                                                

BURLEIGH BEARS 60 (Henare Wells 6, Anthony Don 3, Tyler Chadburn tries; Khan Ahwang 10 goals) beat SUNSHINE COAST FALCONS 6 (Jacob Samoa try; Ryan Hansen goal) at Pizzey Park.

TWEED HEADS SEAGULLS 32 (Tom Merritt 2, Kalifa Faifai Loa, Pele Peletelese, Cody Nelson, Blake Anderson tries; Jamal Fogarty 3, Blake Anderson goals) def IPSWICH JETS 28 (Javarn White, Carlin Anderson, Rod Griffin, Billy McConnachie, Marmin Barba tries; Wes Conlon 4 goals) at Piggabeen Sports.

Burleigh Bears

1. Henare Wells 2. Khan Ahwang 3. Steve Michaels 4. Jamie Anderson 5. Anthony Don 6. Conner Toia 7. Ryley Jacks 8. Kyle McConnell 9. Matt Beddow 10. Matt Bell 11. James Dunley 12. Louis Fanene 13. Darren Griffiths (c) 14. Tyler Chadburn 15. Chris Kitching 16. Siuatonga Likiliki 20. Mark Ioane

Tweed Heads Seagulls: 1. Jamal Fogarty 2. Tom Merritt 3. Luke Dumas 4. James Wood (c) 5. Kalifa Faifai Loa 6. Sam Irwin 7. Beau Henry 18. Ryan James 9. Matt King (c) 10. Pele Peletelese 11. Cody Nelson 12. Cory Blair 13. Tom Kingston 14. Blake Anderson 15. Ayden Lee 16. Sam Saville 17. Reg Saunders

THE LADDER