Souths headed east to take on Brisbane Tigers at Totally Workwear Stadium this weekend. With fine conditions it was set to be an explosive game of footy.
Souths got on the board first with Callum Eggerling pushing over the line in the 6th minute closely followed by Israel Leota's spectacular kick-chase try. Sunday was Leota's third ever Hostplus Cup game and he dazzled the crowd with a hat-trick.
Tigers bit back with four unanswered tries before Albert Kelly scored another 4 points for Souths brining the score to 22-18 to Tigers heading into half time.
The second half was a nail-biting 40 minutes of footy with Tigers kicking off the point scoring with another 3 straight tries. In the 54th minute Leota scored his second try of the day with a stunning intercept before running 60 meters to bring Souths back into the game.
VJ Semu pushed through the Tigers defensive line to score a try, converted by Jospeh Tomane bringing the score to 30-38 to Easts.
With just 18 minutes left in the game, Albert Kelly threw a beautiful pass out to Israel Leota on the wing who scored his third and final try for the game. The try was not converted holding the score at 34-38. Tigers kicked a penalty goal in the final minute of the game to secure their win with just 6 point gap.
We're very proud of the boys' performance, despite having a few key players out with injuries. The team still managed to gel well on the field.