The Launceston Tigers have clawed their way to the top of the premiership league ladder, with their latest prey coming in the form of a hard-nosed Hutchins Lions team.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
After winning convincingly 58-5, Tigers president Isaac Anderson said the Royal Park match was relatively forward-dominated in the opening term, allowing the Tigers to get ahead early.
"This was Hutchins' third week in a row on the road so certainly they were pretty up for the game," he said.
"We probably won those early contests, and we were able to spread the ball wide.
"Iese Alatimu scored our first try, and then we basically scored three quick tries to take the lead."
Anderson said the rest of the opening half proved to be an arm wrestle between the teams, and praised Hutchins' composure for the remainder of the bout.
"They really came back into the game which was good," he said.
"But our fly-half John Dunbar really stepped up and dictated the end of that half."
ELSEWHERE IN SPORT:
Dunbar finished the game with three conversions.
"Johnny's a really good player - he played junior football with us and came back three years ago," Anderson said.
"He's a really important player for us, he's played full-back for most of the year, but he stepped up and played fly-half yesterday and really led the team around well from that position."
Anderson credited his side's depth in the second half against Hutchins in being able to close out the win.
"We probably dominated the set piece, which is really pleasing and that allowed us to get the ball out to our outside backs who dominated all day," he said.
The only team to beat the Tigers this season is the Devonport Bulls, who sit one bonus point behind in second on the ladder.
They'll play again in a month's time; Anderson said there were a couple of things his team will fine-tune leading up to the game.
"Cleaning up our ruck area - that's been a real focus of our team of the last three weeks is working on the breakdown," he said.
"That's going to hold us in good stead for those later rounds.
"This is the first time that I can remember in 20-odd years that three of the top four teams are Northern."
In the mean time, the Tigers will prepare to face the Glenorchy Stags next weekend.
"Glenorchy will be a challenge - they have some really dangerous inside backs that we'll have to look out for," Anderson said.
"They've got fairly solid set pieces in the forward ... they're in some fairly good form so that'll be a tough match up."
Harry Murtough
Born and raised in Launceston. BA of journalism from Monash University. Sports reporter covering basketball, netball and cricket.
Born and raised in Launceston. BA of journalism from Monash University. Sports reporter covering basketball, netball and cricket.
