Over the weekend, the high-flying North Sydney Bears recorded an impressive home ground triumph over the Western Suburbs Magpies to claim the Jason Taylor Cup.
Meanwhile, the Ipswich Jets and Glebe Dirty Reds suffered defeats in their respective competitions.
North Sydney Bears
The North Sydney Bears claimed a convincing 46-18 victory over the Western Suburbs Magpies on Sunday afternoon at North Sydney Oval in the NSW Cup.
A fast start for the home side saw Allan Fitzgibbon and Tuipulotu Katoa cross the stripe in the opening 10 minutes, giving them an 8-0 advantage.
The Magpies quickly pulled back six points, with a converted try to Rua Ngatikaura closing the gap to two.
Seven minutes later, the Bears crossed for two more quick tries through fullback Josh Bergamin and five-eighth Jesse Marschke, earning a 20-6 lead with 10 minutes left in the first half.
Western Suburbs were able to find two tries of their own before the break, with John Tuivaiti and Triston Reilly finding the stripe to send the sides into the sheds with North Sydney holding a 20-18 lead.
The home side launched into the second half with Reuben Porter scoring a try after just three minutes, extending their advantage to eight.
Fitzgibbon scored his second of the afternoon in the 54th minute before Ben Stevanovic found another Bears try just three minutes later.
Two late tries to Fitzgibbon concluded his impressive Bears debut, with a perfect second half from North Sydney resulting in a 46-18 triumph.
Ipswich Jets
Hosting the Mackay Cutters at North Ipswich Reserve on Sunday afternoon, the Ipswich Jets suffered an unfortunate 20-36 defeat in the Queensland Cup.
Mackay drew first blood with a try in the ninth minute to fullback Rayden Burns, giving the visitors a 6-0 lead which lasted 20 minutes.
The Jets levelled the scores with a try to winger Ratu Jope Rotavisoro, but they were unable to maintain the balance into half time as Cutters winger Flynn Camilleri scored to make it 6-12.
The home side fell 18 points behind just seven minutes into the second half as Kobe Bone and Brandon Finnegan both found the stripe for Mackay.
The Jets pulled back 10 of those points in 12 minutes with Captain Rhys Jacks and five-eighth Gerome Burns crossing the line.
Camilleri secured a double for Mackay, extending their lead to 14 with just 10 minutes remaining on the clock.
Mosese Qionimacawa quickly scored for the Jets after the restart, but the Cutters had the last laugh with a try to front rower Josh Honan icing their 20-36 win.
Glebe Dirty Reds
The Glebe Dirty Reds were overcome by the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the Ron Massey Cup, falling 28-38 in a high-scoring Wentworth Park affair on Sunday.
It was a fast start to the game, with Salesi Malu scoring for Glebe and Noah Johannssen for Canterbury-Bankstown to make it 6 all.
A try to Jarrod Cullen gave the Dirty Reds a four-point advantage, before the match was squared up once again with Hamish Wilson scoring to make it 10 points apiece.
The Bulldogs took their first lead of the game with Samuel Inoke coming off the bench to score, making the margin 10-6.
Shortly after, Canterbury-Bankstown piled on three quick tries through Aston Pollard, Penioni Tagituimua and Joseph Teaupa, extending their lead to a dominant 10-34 upper hand.
Trailing by 24, the Dirty Reds launched a try-scoring barrage of their own with Tyrone Ranuku Phillips, Dylan O’Connor and Malu all finding the line within a six-minute span to bring their points tally up to 28.
Unfortunately, their scoring spree was interrupted with a four-pointer from Bulldogs second rower Lajuan Vito which put the game just out of reach for the Dirty Reds, concluding the afternoon with a 28-38 loss.
