THE Northern Pride might keep the tackling bags in the shed this week after their defensive heroics to beat Wynnum Manly 29-6 at Barlow Park on Saturday night.

While their offence misfired as often as it ignited, the Pride were superb when they had to defend their line.

The reigning Queensland Cup premiers opened the scoring in the ninth minute when second rower Mark Cantoni reached over near the posts before field position swung in the Seagulls’ favour.

But the visitors could not convert their territorial advantage into points and the Pride punished the wastefulness when forward Joel Riethmuller pounced on a loose ball to score 11 minutes before the break.

The Pride survived two sets on their goal line in the lead-up to halftime and stretched their advantage to 18 points three minutes after the restart when Blake Leary crashed over.

The Seagulls eventually cracked the Pride through centre Shea Moylan and were invited back into the contest by the home team who were plagued by handling errors and penalties.

Mitchell Dodds appeared certain to score the Seagulls’ second try when Broncos squad mate Dane Carlaw burst through the frontline, but, as they did all game, the Pride scrambled to save the day.

Five-eighth Clint Amos showed a cool head next time Pride visited the visitors’ 20m zone to slot a field goal and increase their lead to 13 points.

With the Seagulls’ resolve broken, Luke Harlen and Hezron Murgha scored two late tries for the Pride.

The victory was the Pride’s second in a row this season and stretches their unbeaten streak to 14 games.

Share this article