Cutters rout Bears to claim Interstate title
Mitch Jennings@@Mitch_Jenno
2 Oct 2016, 5 p.m.
THE ILLAWARRA Cutters didn’t so much as break Queensland’s stranglehold on interstate bragging rights as obliterate it, blowing Burleigh off the paddock 54-12 in Sunday’s Intrust Super Championship clash.
A TASTE OF STEEL: Illawarra claimed the Intrust Super Championship 54-12 at ANZ Stadium on Sunday. Picture: Getty Images
While the Dragons lumbering attack has drawn no end of criticism throughout 2016, the Cutters proved the entertainers on the game’s biggest stage, running nine tries to two to take home their second major piece of silverware in as many weeks to a previously bare trophy cabinet. In what proved a continuation of their NSW Cup premiership celebrations, the Cutters ran in five first half tries, four of them to forwards, to lead 30-0 at the break with a shell-shocked Bears outfit never really in the clash.
It was coach Jason Demetriou’s second taste of success in the interstate clash having won the inaugural clash with Queensland Cup side Northern Pride in 2014.
“I think for players at this level, playing on NRL grand final day is a huge opportunity and they were outstanding today, they showed how much quality they’ve got,” Demetriou said.
“You get to showcase how good you are against the elite players at this level and there’s only one place to go after that and that’s the NRL. I felt after watching the video of the Queensland Cup grand final and that intensity between their final and the NSW Cup grand final wasn’t quite the same.
“I thought we could put a lot of pressure on them through our defence which we did early in the game and what we did well was they didn’t get any ball at all down our end in the first half and I think that broke their spirit a little bit.
“We want to play with some shape but we want to play with our eyes as well and have options both sides of the footy and I thought the boys did that well.
“They saw the opportunities up through the middle but that’s not easy to do because they’re a big pack, they really take some stopping but we managed to do that and got some joy through that middle third and scored some pretty good tries as well.”
In his last chance of 2016 to stake a claim for the Dragons No. 7 jumper next season, man of the match Drew Hutchison was outstanding for the Cutters, as was halves partner Shaun Nona with the pair having hand in all five first half tries and going on with it in the second stanza.
The Cutters led 6-0 after just seven minutes when Shannon Wakeman barged his way across. Siliva Havili, Hutchison and Kalifa Faifai Loa all went desperately close to scoring before Damian Sironen slammed the ball down under the posts after a break from Hutchison.
The floodgates opened from there with Adam Quinlan finishing off a brilliant 50-metre exchange of passing to extend the margin to 18-0 before Jacob Host and Chris Lewis added their names to the list for a 30-point buffer at halftime.
Hutchison stepped his way across five minutes after the resumption and Havili put the result to bed with his 54th minute barge-over effort that saw the lead swell to 42-0.
Kurt Mann got across before former Cutter Josh Ailomai finally broke the Bears’ duck. The relief was short-lived with Taane Milne scoring after a Bears error from the kickoff to move past the half-century with Bears’ fullback Kurtis Rowe’s try inside the final minute rounding out the scoring.
http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/4201681/cutters-annointed-kings/?cs=302
