Pearse leads Future Titans to victory over Northern Rivers

A classy performance from young dummy-half Cory Pearse has helped the Future Titans Under 16s to a 40-28 win over the Northern Rivers Under 17s in Saturday's curtain-raiser at Cbus Super Stadium.

With both sides playing out a draw the last two times they've met, there were ominous signs the points could've been split yet again mid-way through the second half, but a dominant finish by the Future Titans' middle third - led by Pearse controlling the tempo at hooker - helped them shoot out and finish with a 12-point victory in front of a big crowd who came in to watch the next generation in action.

Earning the Macca's man of the match for his strong efforts with the No. 9 on his back, the youngster said it was good to get the win and credited his fellow middles for their performance, especially late in the game.

"It was good to see the boys bring it home in the second half. We lost the battle a bit in the first half, so it was good to get the win," Pearse said.

"I reckon we won the game in the middle. Full credit to the middles... they dug deep."

The Northern Rivers began strong off the kick-off, scoring in the third minute after Clayton Guiney got a fortuitous bounce from a down-field, allowing him to pick-up and run down the touch-line for first points for the under 17s, taking a 6-0 lead early in the clash.

With both teams giving it their all for the next five minutes, relishing their opportunity to play at Cbus Super Stadium, the Future Titans hit back after motoring up the field with lightning quick ruck speed, which allowed Cooper Bai to break the line and find Isaac Togia – who timed his support run to perfect - to score their first try of the match in the 10th minute.

Some exciting second phase play was on display from both teams, and it wasn't long before more points came, this time to the Northern Rivers with Waylon Caldwell throwing a well-timed cut-out pass to Guiney, who beat a number of defenders to score his second try in the first half.

Despite trailing on the scoreboard, there were some big efforts in defence, especially from Future Titans forwards Jac Finigan and Cooper Bai - son of former Melbourne Storm flyer Marcus - which was good signs for what was to come later in the match.

The Titans had the Northern Rivers on the ropes near the line – caught short on the right hand side, before Caldwell plucked an intercept out of the air like a thief in the night and ran 95 metres to cross against the run of play and further extend the Northern Rivers’ lead to 14 with 12 minutes to play.

The Under 16s didn't drop their heads though and came up with a lovely set play from right to left to hit back in the 28th minute, shifting through the hands from Zane Harrison, who found Ryder Williams, allowing Sam Stephenson to chime in nicely at fullback before Anton Whaiapu finished things off on the left flank.

An impressive conversion from Harrison on the eastern sideline reduced the margin to six, with the 16-10 scoreline the margin as both teams hit the sheds for half-time.

It didn't take long for points to start flowing in the second stanza, as Williams shaped to kick before throwing a dummy and going straight through to draw the clash level in the 38th minute.

They were in again to take the lead for the first time in the match when a brilliant shift from a scrum on halfway got the ball in the Izayah Petricevich's hands, who tucked it under his wing and ran 50 metres, beating defenders in the process for his first four-pointer of the match.

But the game was squared up again in the 45th minute thanks to Northern Rivers' Noah Hill who ran well in support of Guiney, as the flyer broke the line before passing back inside to the flashy No. 1 to lock it up at 22-22.

Five minutes later, the Future Titans began to really muscle up in the middle third, and that's when the points really started to flow as Stephenson added a four-pointer of his own after a classy try assist in the opening half.

A well executed play near the line - particularly the service from Pearse at dummy-half - helped the Future Titans to another try, this time Joseph Pouniu muscling up to slam the Steeden over the white stripe.

The No. 9 then crossed minutes later to ice his man of the match performance with a try, burrowing his way over to lead 40-22.

Hope was not lost for the Northern Rivers near full-time when Guiney kicked the ball back inside for Creedence Donovan to pick up and score, but it wasn't enough to stop the Future Titans from claiming victory in the curtain-raiser clash, finishing the game ahead 40-28.