Sunshine Coast v Brothers Stockland Park 3:00pm - 10/4/2010
33	Round 01	20

The Sunshine Coast Stingrays again proved the surprise packets of the 2010 Queensland Premier Rugby competition by beating defending Premiers Brothers 33-20 in their Round one match at Stockland Park.

It was no ambush for Brothers, who went into the match well aware that the Stingrays had convincingly beaten Gold Coast a fortnight ago in a rescheduled competition game timed to coincide with the final of the country championships.

A first half loaded with action had the home crowd on their feet, with Stingrays fullback Thomas Bird scoring their first try after some slick work by the Stingrays backline. The home side dominated the first half to lead 19-13 at halftime.

Brothers fought back to lead 20-19 early in the second half but two late tries, including a spectacular 50 metre dash by Josh Macpherson, locked in the win for the Stingrays.

Sunshine Coast captain Gareth Clouston said he was happy with the team’s performance, which left them on top of the competition ladder.

“Defence was just epic today,” he said.

“We did have a plan to sort of lock the game down, and we had a little bit of trouble doing this early on, but it’s only the second game of the season, and the boys did very well.”

Brothers' captain Dallan Murphy, who was outstanding for the visitors, said he was disappointed, but enjoyed the game.

“Our defence was very good today, we just need to keep focusing on the rest of the season.”

Sunshine Coast 33 (A Gavegan, T Bird, J McPherson tries M Stone 4 pens 3 cons) d Brothers 20 (M Dews, N Gendle tries Dallan Murphy 2 pens 2 cons)

Match report by Tom Williams