The visiting Southern Suburb Tigers went on a try-scoring rampage to defeat the A-Grade rugby league Goondiwindi Boars 70-22 at a wind swept Gilbert Oval on Saturday night.

It has been many seasons since a defeat of this magnitude has been inflicted on the Boars on their home turf and astute coach Terry Aqulina will have a few sleepless nights pondering how to arrest his teams worrying form slide.

The game was in its infancy when the Tigers crossed for the first of their twelve tries, and a shell-shocked Boars outfit could do little to quell the free flowing Tigers attack.

A further three tries were soon added to the score and the Tigers had raced to an amazing 24-0 lead after only 15 minutes of play raising concerns of whether the new electronic score-board was equipped to accommodate triple figures.

The Boars defence began to inflict some punishment on the Souths forwards with Rob McGlashen, Kedron Gunn and Tom Crocker cutting down their opponents with copy-book defence and momentarily stemming the flow of tries.

With limited possession the Boars were finding it difficult to mount any sustained attack and it took an individual piece of brilliance from outstanding centre Sam Greenland to finally get the home side on the board and after Clyde Hickling converted the Boars trailed 24-6 after 30 minutes.

The Tigers retaliated almost immediately to draw ahead 30-6 before a typical Robbie McIntosh burst saw him crash over for a well deserved try to take the score to 30-12 at halftime.

The second half began in eerily similar fashion to the first half with Souths attacking the right hand side defence of the Boars and the result was the same with another 4 tries added within the space of 15 minutes to take them to an unassailable lead of 54-12 in the 55th minute of play.

The Boars hit back with a try to will-of-the-wisp halfback, Clyde Hickling in the 60th minute and when his radar-like boot guided the ball between the uprights the Boars trailed 54-18.

Unfortunately for the tiring Boars’ defence the Tigers were not about to declare the innings closed and they raced in another hat-trick of tries before game’s end and the Boars could only conjure up one try to the mercurial Craig McKenzie who delighted the crowd with a 90 metre special to have the fulltime score at 70-22.

The only highlights for the Boars legions of fans who braved the cold conditions were some brilliant individual pieces of attack from the likes of Craig McKenzie, David Wild and Karl Tomkins.

The Boars defence in the centre of the ruck held firm with Jake McCosker, Hayden Everingham and evergreen veteran Adam Wilson tackling themselves to a standstill to contain the Souths forwards, but it was the defensive lapses out wide that resulted in Souths scoring most of their tries courtesy of their speedy backline.

The Boars travel to Oakey on Sunday and an improved performance in both attack and defence is needed if they want to avoid the dreaded wooden spoon.

Souths 70 defeated Goondiwindi 22 (Sam Greenland, Robbie McIntosh, Clyde Hickling and Craig McKenzie tries; Clyde Hickling 3 goals).

Reserve Grade:

The Malcolm Peckham coached Reserve Grade Boars defeated Souths 28-18 at Gilbert Oval on Saturday night to remain in semi-final contention.

The Boars again began the match slowly and soon found themselves down 6-0 in the 3rd minute after a defensive lapse gifted the Tigers a try.

Retaliation was swift, as was Harold “Buddy” Brown as he scorched down the sideline to score out wide to reduce the score to 6-4 in the 6th minute of play.

The next twenty minutes of the game was a good old fashion slug fest as both sides charged into each other with scant regard for self preservation and the old retired forwards in the grandstand bristled with delight.

Souths seemingly unpenetrable defence was breached by some fancy footwork by quick stepping fullback Troy Adams and with Derrick Craigie converting from the sideline the Boars had taken a 10-6 lead which they held until halftime.

Both teams went on the attack in the second half and the Tigers were the first to cross in the 42nd minute to regain the lead 12-10.

The Boars hit back with a try to Michael Walsh to once again take the lead 16-12, but relinquished it soon after as the Tigers scored again in the 53rd minute to make the score 18-16 in favour of the visitors.

With the game in the balance and the Boars looking for inspiration, captain coach Mal Peckham burst onto a ball near his own goal line and charged downfield in an 80 metre run that skittled the Tigers defence like tenpins and bore testimony that his new found self imposed fitness regime is reaping huge rewards.

With the Boars now on the attack and the Tigers defence in disarray, Harold Brown had no trouble in slicing through to give the Boars a 22-18 lead with 15 minutes left on the clock.

A barnstorming run by the rampaging Michael Offerdahl in the 66th minute resulted in a rare try to the hardworking forward and his four pointer put the game beyond doubt with the Boars holding on to win 28-18.

Goondiwindi 28 (Harold Brown 2, Troy Adams, Michael Walsh and Michael offerdahl tries; Derrick Craigie 4 goals) defeated Souths 18.

Under 18:

The young Boars were soundly beaten on Saturday night against the visiting Southern Suburbs Tigers 42-24 at Gilbert Oval.

The Boars were down 26-6 at halftime but played a far improved brand of football in the second stanza to outscore their opponents 18-16 in the second half to give Super Coach Cyril Mayberry something to work with for the remainder of the season.

Corey McIntosh was again in outstanding form as was the exciting Jordan Jenkins who notched two tries for the day and they were well supported by Casey Tierney, Carl Hippi, Zachary Farrow and John Sampson.