Sport
5 June, 2026
Warriors ease to second on ladder
Local league heroes Wattles Warriors overwhelmed Toowoomba Rugby League competition front-runners, Southern Suburbs Tigers 38 to 12 at Clifton’s Platz Oval on Sunday in chilly, breezy weather to ease on to the second rung on the Hutchinson’s Builders A Grade premiership ladder.
A polished performance by Wattles co-skipper Nick Van Der Poel played a leading role in the success of his team.
Van Der Poel rates among the Warriors’ consistent players on a weekly basis, and is currently the club A Grade leading try scorer with four touchdowns from five premiership fixtures.
While not at full strength, and yet to hone their match performance to the standards required by coach Travis Burns, the Warriors had too much class for Southern Suburbs and ran away with the points in the second stanza.
The result sees the Southern Downs neighbouring clubs, the undefeated Warwick Cowboys and the Wattles Warriors at the top of the premiership ladder, with both teams meeting in a much-anticipated clash in upcoming Round 7.
Sunday’s Round 6 fixture contested by the two top five clubs, Wattles and Southern Suburbs, was originally scheduled for Toowoomba’s Gold Park, home of Southern Suburbs, but rain through the past week rendered the facility too wet, and the match was transferred to Wattles’ turf at Clifton.
Big men Cooper Tate-Roche and the Tuimaveve-Gerrard brothers Adam and Manny, were dominant through the middle and defensively, while fullback Lachlan Watt, halfback Kai Duggan, centres Blake Appo and Jesse Yallop along with winger Lachlan Henry all shone in an inspiring victory.
Wattles forwards were relentless in defence and running the ball, while the backs created numerous opportunities, claiming six of the Warriors’ seven tries.
Impressive eighteen-years-old bench forward Harry Bate debuted in A Grade in the 30th minute with a grinding run in mid field.
Bate had impressed in Wattles’ earlier Under 19 match win.
A try double in the space of two minutes by Watt and Yallop in the 14th and 16th minutes saw Wattles snatch an early 12-0 lead.
Hefty bench forward Mitchell Murphy crossed to open the Tigers’ scoring account after 22 minutes, with Wattles’ Blake Appo replying off an across the goal mouth Kai Duggan kick to adjust the scoreboard, Wattles 18, Southern Suburbs 6 going in at half time.
Slick try scoring centre Jesuah Wini kept the Tigers in striking distance of the lead with a touchdown early in the new half.
Two crowd thrilling near mirror image tries, from twenty metres out up the eastern sideline by Wattles winger Lachlan Henry stretched the home side advantage to 26-12.
The tries were mighty efforts by the edge finisher with limited space in heavy traffic.
It appeared he had repeated the dose a third time soon after, touching down but denied by officialdom.
With a little over ten minutes remaining Wattles took control moving to shut the game out, after a second Blake Appo try, and a deserved four-pointer to hard-working back rower Manny Tuimaveve-Gerrard.
Wattles 38 (Lachlan Henry 2, Blake Appo 2, Lachlan Watt, Jesse Yallop, Manny Tuimaveve-Gerrard tries; Kai Duggan 5 goals); Southern Suburbs 12 (Mitchell Murphy, Jesuah Wini tries; Tait Cameron 2 goals)
RESERVE GRADE
While on the wrong end of an 18-10 loss against Southern Suburbs, the Warriors showed regularly they have the capabilities to trouble their opponents.
Coach Garth Lonergan noted his charges “just didn’t start well enough”, which contributed to their demise.
“It was a great effort though to get back in contention and hold out any second half tries,” he said.
Half back Tom Morris was in his usual high standard form, while experienced hooker Zac Stevens and lock Will Denny impressed.
Lonergan is encouraged by his team’s efforts, and is looking to positives in the coming season.
The Tigers held an 18-6 lead at the break, with Tom Morris’ try immediately after half time the sole second stanza points.
Southern Suburbs 18 (Aston Fortier, Mitch Riley, Brandon Biles tries; Aston Fortier 2, Riley Wilson goals); Wattles 10 (Tom Morris 2 tries; Koby de Luca goals)
UNDER 19
The Wattles colts were keen to step up to the winner’s podium again after a bye last week and a last outing loss to Gatton.
With that in mind they assumed a 10-0 lead at the break against Southern Suburbs courtesy of tries by half back Billy Peardon and lock Tom Beresford.
While the Tigers ran in a vital try double in the second stanza, Wattles fullback Paddy Denny touched down twice to cement victory for the home side.
Denny, and forwards Harry Bate and Harry Marshall were among the brightest lights in green and gold.
Wattles 18 (Paddy Denny 2, Tom Beresford, Billy Peardon tries; Billy Peardon goal); Southern Suburbs 10 (Mitch Wilkes 2 tries; Mitch Wilkes goal).
ROUND 7
Given that the coming weekend sees the Queensland Rugby League City-Country matches, Toowoomba Rugby League teams will all have a break, resuming for Round 7 on Saturday June 13th, when Wattles will take on Warwick at Father Ranger Oval in Warwick.
- Glyn Rees
