Blackhawks overpower Ipswich Jets 36-28 in Charters Towers

Monday, August 17, 2015

The Blackhawks overturned an 18-0 halftime deficit after being thoroughly exposed on the edges by Ipswich’s elusive back line, which had Townsville in deep water until calmer heads prevailed, with late tries from Kyle Feldt and Robert Lui sealing the win.

Spectators fortunate enough to be at Bill Lewis Oval on Saturday were treated to one of the ISC’s best games of the season, which featured all the drama, entertainment and toughness of finals football.

Three players from each side were sin-binned, with Feldt and Tom Humble getting marching orders before halftime following all-in scuffles, and Kelepi Tanginoa was sidelined after the break as Ipswich continued to frustrate the Blackhawks.

But Blackhawks coach Kristian Woolf knew his team had prevailed in what could be a preview of this year’s grand final.

“Our think the best thing about us was we took our few hits early and got a little bit frustrated a times, but we stuck to our guns in that second half, fixed up a few things at halftime and I’m really happy with that win,” Woolf said, whose team conceded no tries in the second half.

“Ipswich are very hard to defend against, and it was the first time Kyle (Feldt) and Robbie (Lui) had played against them on that right edge — and Samsen (O’Neill) as well — and I think they’re a team you have to play against to know how to defend them.

“The other guys who had played them before tended to handle it a little bit better, and we’ll be a hell of a lot better the next time we play them.

“It was two very good sides going at each other and you want to be able to win those close ones, and that’s certainly what we’re going to have to do in finals.”

Just as they did in Round 2 to hand Townsville its first ISC defeat, the Jets started strongly with their side to side football, posting tries through Marmin Barba, Billy McConnachie and Dane Phillips.

Their unorthodox style was a handful to contain, in particular the short restarts they took all game, but Feldt got Townsville on the board after 20 minutes through an intercept, and Lorenzo Ma’afu barged over for the Blackhawks second a few sets later.

The Blackhawks were by no means perfect from then on, and Barba ran 80m for Ipswich’s last try just before the break, but the big-game experience of Neville Costigan, Daniel Beasley and other experienced campaigners slowly swung the momentum Townsville’s way.

Tanginoa scored right after halftime and Michael Parker-Walshe powered over the tryline to take the Blackhawks to within six of Ipswich, before Jahrome Hughes scored a brilliant try out wide to set up a grand stand finish.

“That’s going to show the competition what we’re about; we got into that situation but we came back” Blackhawks winger and Charters Towers product Zac Santo said.

“There was a little bit of banter between the boys during a couple of those tries, but we settled down and got back to the basics, and look at what happened.”

TOWNSVILLE BLACKHAWKS 36 (K Feldt 2, J Hughes, R Lui, M Parker-Walshe, K Tanginoa, L Ma’afu; goals Feldt 2, Lui 2) def IPSWICH JETS 28 (M Barba 2, D Phillips, B McConnachie; goals Carlin Anderson 6)

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