Sea Eagles obliterate Pride
Steve Zemek | 7th June 2010
THE Sunshine Coast Sea Eagles have sent shockwaves through the Queensland Cup with a 64-0 obliteration of the Northern Pride at Stockland Park yesterday.
Going into the match the reigning premiers were just clinging to the edge of the top six but have rocketed into premiership calculations with a clinical dismantling of their 2009 grand final rivals.
The win was the Sunshine Coast’s biggest ever victory by a margin of 18 points, with its previous largest being a 46-0 dismantling of the Central Coast Comets in round 20 last year.
The Sea Eagles look set for yet another strong back half to the year. However, they remain outside the six in seventh spot.
Daly Cherry-Evans ran amuck with the 21-year-old halfback playing a part in almost all of the Sea Eagles’ 12 tries.
Jamie Buhrer, who usually plays second row, once again found himself playing in the unfamiliar position of five-eighth. However, he left most of the playmaking to his captain.
While not used to wearing the No.6 on his back, he said his job was made infinitely more easy with Cherry-Evans running the show.
“I don't play a traditional five-eighth role, we’ve got Chez (Cherry-Evans) there. I’m just basically an extra forward, I just feed an extra ball out wide and take a run from the scrum when I can,†he said.
It was clear from the outset the Pride players did not have their heads in the game as Cherry-Evans strolled across the line in the fifth minute.
The Sea Eagles appeared to break the Cairns-based side’s spirit in the 18th minute when centre Filinga Filiga caught some lazy defence napping for a 16-0 lead. At times it was hard to tell if the Pride was just plain awful or the Sea Eagles were that good. In the end it was a bit of both.
The 7-2 half-time penalty count in favour of the Sunshine Coast had those on the Northern bench remonstrating, however, to be fair, they were their own worst enemies for a lot of the game.
Buhrer and back-rower Jamie Lussick split the Pride at will with Cherry-Evans?...?well?...?he was the cherry on top, pardon the pun.
Every facet of Cherry-Evan’s game was masterful – his kicking, decision-making, passing, he even put his slight 84kg frame on the line to pull off a few big hits. In a word, he was superlative, as were most of the Sea Eagles.
While the Sunshine Coast has been guilty of playing in patches over the past 18 months, there was no suggestion of it giving up its 42-0 half-time lead.
The Pride has failed to beat the Sunshine Coast in each of their five meetings. Buhrer said the side had lifted its intensity at training going into the clash, however, no one in the team predicted a whitewash of such magnitude.
SUNSHINE COAST 64
(Daly Cherry-Evans, Michael Chapman, Filinga Filiga 2, Dennis Sandow 2, Tyrone Coppedge, Darcy Lussick 2, Terrence Seu Seu, Jon Muir, Jamie Buhrer tries; Michael Chapman 7, Dennis Sandow goals)
NORTHERN PRIDE 0
Woops, I forgot to add the source:
http://www.sunshinecoastdaily.com.a...a-eagles-turn-on-masterful-display-pride-win/
