QCup Rd 8 Capras 25 Burleigh 22

by NRL

CQ Capras coach John Harbin always talks about the spirit in his young squad and yesterday they proved it by shutting out Burleigh Bears in the second half to win at Browne Park by 25-22.

It was a muddling first-half effort from the home side as they allowed the Bears to claim some soft points and also committed too many errors when in good attacking positions.

But a turning point for the Capras was the introduction of Ashley Kris off the bench.

The question was whether Kris could reproduce his form of the local competition when playing in the Intrust Super Cup.

The answer is now clear as the Fitzroys speedster scored a couple of well-taken tries as the Capras wore down the Bears' resistance.

Burleigh could not have had a better start, scoring a try through bustling prop Brenton Lawrence on the back of the Capras defending their third set of six.

Capras second-rower Alan Rothery got the scores back to 6-6 when he crashed over after Cheyenne Motu made the initial line break; one of many he achieved during the game.

Motu's awareness from dummy half had the Capras ahead at 12-6 as he made a characteristic show and go low to score.

From there the remainder of the half was a major disappointment for home fans as Steve Michaels, a veteran of close to 100 NRL games with the Broncos and Titans, took charge.

The Bears centre first used his pace to destroy the Capras cover and then, after Dan Kerr had scored in the corner, rose to take a bomb from under the nose of his opposite number, Brent Williams, to make the score 22-12 for the Bears at the break.

Instead of letting their heads drop, the Capras came out for the second spell with renewed enthusiasm and drive.

With forwards Rothery and Tim Glasby in particular making plenty of metres, the Capras camped in the Bears' half of the pitch.

There were many close calls for the visitors but it was the pace and bewildering side-step of Kris that was the difference scoring two tries.

Motu added to the Bears' woes with a field goal on the last play of the afternoon to send the home crowd into raptures.

The kicking of winger Tyron Cranston was a big part of the Capras' triumph as he was successful with all four conversion attempts.

By Alan Kennedy - Rockhampton Morning Bulletin

CQ CAPRAS 25 (Ashley Kris 2, Alan Rothery, Cheyenne Motu tries; Tyron Cranston 4 goals; Cheyenne Motu field goal) def BURLEIGH BEARS 22 (Steve Michaels 2, Dan Kerr, Brenton Lawrence tries; Danny Kerr 3 goals) at Browne Park.

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