THE Hunters kicked off their Hostplus Cup season with a 16-10 win over hosts Mackay Cutters at BB Print Stadium on Saturday.
Youngster Judah Rimbu bagged half of the Hunters’ points, thanks to two successful conversions and as many penalty goals.
The Hunters enjoyed an excellent start, getting through their opening set before strong contact in defence forced the Cutters into an error with their first possession.
Starting props Casey Dickson and Sylvester Namo consistently bent the line with their carries and Mackay had no answer.
Edge back-rower Benji Kot came close to crashing over the line after collecting a late offload before the Hunters forced yet another error in Mackay’s half.
From the attacking scrum, right-centre Roderick Tai summed things up smartly to put Solo Wane over in the corner for the opening try.
Dilbert Isaac was next to score for the Hunters, crashing over under the posts, courtesy of a lovely pass from Wesser Tenza at dummy-half.
The Cutters were next to score, finding some space for themselves around the ruck and racing 70m up-field only for Wane to complete a superb chasing cover tackle.
Wane’s effort forced the Cutters to search wide for points and they missed the ensuing conversion, keeping the Hunters lead at eight going into the break.
The Cutters didn’t die wondering in the second half. They mounted a stack of pressure late in the game to have five consecutive sets attacking the Hunters line, finally scoring off a cross-field bomb in the 66th minute.
But that was as close as Mackay got.
The Hunters held on bravely in the final stages as Rimbu kicked the lead out to six with just minutes remaining.
The win will fill the Hunters with confidence heading into Saturday match against Central Queensland Capras.
Hunters coach Matthew Church said he was encouraged by the round-one performance.
“What we’ve got here is an exciting young group who are all hungry to get better,” he said.
“We learned the hard way in the pre-season trials and the players gave themselves a chance to win the game with their completions and discipline, which were much improved.”
Church gave credit to a strong pre-season for how the Hunters were able to repeatedly defend their line in the second half.
“To defend five sets on our line and only concede points through a kick was really pleasing,” he said.
“It’s great to get the win for all our debutants tonight and for Keven (Appo) on his captaincy debut.”
Results: Sat, March 19 – Tweed Heads 16 Tigers 20, Cutters 10 Hunters 16, Jets 6 Pride 26, Dolphins 4 Falcons 24; Sun, March 20 – Wynnum Manly 18 Bears 26, Magpies 22 Capras 24, Blackhawks 14 Devils 38.
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