The Sunshine Coast Falcons and Brisbane Tigers both prevailed in Week One of the Hostplus Cup finals, holding on for hard-fought wins in their respective games this weekend.
After sneaking into the top-eight in the final round of the season, the Falcons have kept the momentum going, taking home a 42-36 win over the Redcliffe Dolphins in a try-fest at Kayo Stadium on Sunday.
Storm contracted players Grant Anderson, Justin Olam, Tyran Wishart, Jayden Nikorima and Sua Faalago all got their name on the tryscorers sheet, with Falcons getting off to an electric start and scoring six tries in the first half to lead 34-6 at the break.
Injuries forced a reshuffle to the spine in the second half, a disruption almost seeing the Dolphins claw themselves back level before the final whistle, with the Falcons able to hold on at the death.
Tyran Wishart produced arguably one of his best performances of the year, scoring a first half double, running for 181m and slotting six conversions.
After performing 18th man duties for Storm on Saturday, Chris Lewis led the way for Falcons in the middle third of the field, topping the tackle count (27) for the Sunshine Coast side.
Meanwhile, the Brisbane Tigers have earnt themselves a week off after defeating the Souths Logan Magpies 34-26 in a see-sawing contest also going down to the wire.
After a first half that saw both forward packs go toe-to-toe in the middle of the field and points at an absolute premium, the game opened up in the second stanza with the outside backs from both sides able to inject themselves into the contest.
Four tries inside the opening 15 minutes of the second half put the Tigers on the front foot before Magpies replied with three straight tries of their own heading into the final five minutes of play.
Leading by four, Brisbane withstood a late push by Souths Logan, with a late Max Lehmann try securing the win and a spot in the preliminary final in two weeks’ time.
With the Tigers scheduled for a week off, all eyes now turn to the Falcons who will travel north to Rockhampton to face the CQ Capras in Week Two of finals.
