By Kevin Braysher

http://twitter.com/kevinbraysher

BOTH the Bycroft Cup minor premiership and club championship have gone to the Southport Tigers after they claimed a scrappy 26-1 6 win over the Currumbin Eagles at Galleon Way on Sunday.

After the under 19s and reserve both got the job done earlier in the day to wrap up 4^th and 1^st on their respective ladders, the first grade side flew out to a 26-0 lead that had the result sewn up at halftime.

While the Tigers will be pleased with the result and the titles they now own, their second half clock off, where they didn’t post a single point but conceded 16, will be a concern.

“Our second half again, we tend to fall asleep,” Tigers coach Jason Wilkinson said after the match.

“I don’t know exactly what it is but we need to address it … the week off will probably do us some good.”

“All credit to Currumbin the second half though.”

“They locked it up pretty good in the second half and they just kept coming at us and coming at us.”

Despite a poor second half display the Tigers were terrific in the opening stanza.

Their big men terrorized the opposition pack and playmakers Drumayne Dayberg-Muir, Craig Chapman and Chris Thomas played well off the back of it.

It was another usual suspect in Ken Edwards who setup the first try with a barnstorming run down the left hand side of the field in the 8^th minute.

He linked up Dayberg-Muir in the backfield who finally hit Hirini Robin in support who went over to open the scoring.

It was Dayberg-Muir who scored the next two tries from close range using footwork and elusion to extend the Tigers lead to 18.

Front tow trio of James Usher, Chris Hodges and Ryan Pearson were particularly strong in the first half and with Sione Akauola terrorizing off the bench Southport were looking imposing.

Tries to Scott Mulligan and Peter Norman in the last ten minutes gave them a match-winning 26-0 halftime lead but that was where the scoring stopped for the Tigers.

Running into a strong wind in the second half they weren’t able to build momentum or control the game the way they did in the first half and Currumbin kept coming at them.

Josh Rose was terrific off the bench for Currumbin and really got his team moving forward over the advantage line and their first try came in the 57^th minute when Steve Bauyou scored in the corner.

Michael Burgess through a nice cut out ball to put Jared McCarthy over in the 60^th minute while a late try to winger Zack Schmerse saw the final margin sit at just ten.

While he was unhappy with his side’s second half performance, Tigers coach Jason Wilkinson was satisfied with claiming both the minor premiership and the club championship with the win.

“It’s good for the club,” he said.

“The 19s scraped into 4^th and the reserves have had (the minor premiership) stitched up for a few weeks now.”

“We’re stoked, although the job is only half done.”

In other results from the 18^th and final round of the Bycroft Cup regular season Burleigh defeated Runaway Bay 42-0, Tugun beat Cudgen 62-20 and Bilambil knocked over Tweed Coast 52-10.

Next week the Tigers get the week off as finals get underway with Burleigh hosting Tugun in Sunday’s major semi final while Runaway Bay travel down to Bilambil to face the Jets in the elimination final on Saturday.