THE Northern Pride will make their Queensland Cup finals debut on the road after losing their final round match 30-20 to Ispwich At Barlow Park on Saturday night.
The Pride scored the first two tries of the second half to overalhaul the Jets’ halftime buffer and lead 20-12 but paid dearly for a five-minute concentration lapse during which they leaked three tries.
They will now start their Cup finals campaign on the road, playing Souths Logan in Brisbane next weekend in the major qualifying final.
The Pride needed to beat Ipswich and hope Burleigh beat Souths Logan on Sunday if they were to snare a home final.
Regardless of the loss they still finished in the top three and have a double chance in the finals.
Heading into Saturday’s clash on the back of three consecutive losses, the Pride trailed 12-4 late in the first term with only the Jets’ poor kicking keeping them inthe picture.
Ipswich centre Donald Malone scored the opening try against the run of play in the fourth minute after intercepting a grubber kick inside his own 20m.
The Pride had rolled strongly into the Jets’ territory with recalled five-eighth Stephen Sheppard making the initial break and looked to have a chance on the right when centre Jackson Nicolau grubbered for his winger.
But Malone swopped on the loose ball and raced 85m to score at the opposite end.
Stephen Sheppard evened the ledger when he burrowed over from dummy-half in the 15th minute.
But Ipswich was in again only minutes later, winger Smith Samau strolling through the defence to score after the Jets made easy metres out of their own territory.
Under enormous pressure in late in the first half, the Pride were forced to defend their line for several sets after the Jets won consecutive goal-line dropouts.
Their defence finally cracked with Michael Ryan diving over from dummy-half to score and increase the Jets’ lead to 12-4.
The Pride hit back in the shadows of halftime, front-rower Greg Byrnes crashing over for a try less than three minutes from the break after the home side took a quick tap from a penalty.
The score, coupled with the Jets’ failure to convert any of their first-half tries sent the Pride to the break just two points in arrears at 12-10.
The Pride had the perfect opening to the second half, scoring within three minutes of kickoff to take the lead.
Northern won a scrum 30m from the Ipswich line after charging down a Jets kick and Luke Millwood scored from the resulting set, stepping off his right foot from dummy-half to open a gaping hole in the defence and score under the posts.
Josh Vaughan extended the lead when he crossed in the 47th minute and the Pride looked in control.
But the match turned within the space of five minutes as Ipswich ran in three tries to seal the win and the Queensland Cup minor premiership.
Front-rower Aaron Sweeney started the run, charging through some soft Pride defence on the line to bring his side back within two points of the lead.
It seemed to start the rot for the Pride, who kicked out on the full from the restart, allowing Ipswich in the following set through Adam Boettcher.
Pride custodian Chey Bird has been an outstanding custodian this season but a rare knock-on when fielding a regulation grubber 10m out from his line handed the Jets another chance and they made the most of it, Smith Samau scoring his second for the night to seal the win.
IPSWICH JETS 30 (Smith Samau 2, Donald Malone, Michael Ryan, Aaron Sweeney, Adam Boettcher tries; Malone 3 goals) d NORTHERN PRIDE 20 (Stephen Sheppard, Greg Byrnes, Luke Millwood, Josh Vaughan tries; Chey Bird 2 goals)
