COMMONWEALTH BANK
STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS
OPENS      TOWNSVILLE      21-24 MAY 1998

Warm sunny days and balmy nights greeted the more than 250 players and officials who descended on Townsville for the 1998 Open Championships. For the first time twelve regions were contesting the championships, newcomer Metro North drawing its players from former Metro East, Metro West and Sunshine Coast schools.

Under canny coach and carnival convenor Tony Tarnawski, host region Northern was defending the title it claimed from Metro East Navy in 1997. However Northern was denied back to back titles when beaten by Peninsula in a thrilling semi final at Malanda Stadium on the Saturday night, in a curtain raiser to the Cowboys-Parramatta game.

Peninsula went on to claim the title, beating Metro North in a nailbiting final the next day. (In an ironic reversal of fortunes, Peninsula lost its 15-Year crown to Northern a week later at Kingaroy.)

Perennial battlers South West went home happy, after turning in their best ever Opens result. For the first time they finished outside the bottom four.

DAY 1  THURSDAY

Preliminary Round
Peninsula 32 (B Richards 2, S Kidner, B Carr, J Hodges tries; C Sheppard 2, L Pensini, J Hodges goals) def Wide Bay 4 (J Gibson try). Half time: 12-4. Players of match: Blaine Richards, Peninsula; Dustin Cooper, Wide Bay.

South West 24 (A Crosland 2, L Gaulton, C Thurston, B Geiger tries; A Crosland 2 goals) def Metro East 18 (D McIlwain, R McGoldrick, S Cummings tries; S Geissler 2, D McIlwain goals). Half time: South West 18-6. Players of match: Craig Thurston, South West; Ryan McGoldrick, Metro East.

South Coast 46 (D Kennedy 2, J Vaughan, J Lolesi, B McConnell, M Hema, J Prowse,
Z West tries; J van Dijk 5, D Kennedy 2 goals) d Capricornia 4 (G Duffy try). Half time: South Coast 24-4. Players of match: Jace van Dijk, South Coast; Peter Reddy, Capricornia.


Sunshine Coast 24 (J Faivulu 2, A Gardner, T Clayton, J Burley tries; D McEniery,
M Anderson goals) def Metro West 18 (T Ropati, P Cook, D Pati, J O'Doherty tries; O'Doherty goal). Half- time: Sunshine Coast 10-8. Players of match: Ben Cook, Sun. Coast; Michael Ryan, Metro West.

Metro North 34 (D Hegarty 2, A Johnston, B Costello, T Ahben, M Bassett, P Daley tries; P Daley 3 goals) def Darling Downs 8 (W Bachmann, T Ribot de Bresac tries). Half time: Metro North 16-8. Players of match: Andrew Johnston, Metro North; Nathan Murphy, Darling Downs.

Northern 86 (P Wapau 3, M Bowen 3, C Muckert 2, C Nehow, B McGrath, R Prior, Z Kyle, P Wake, C Laffin, J Rowbotham, L Price tries; D Lambert 6, Z Kyle 5 goals) def North West 1 (J Reinders field goal). Half time: 34-1. Players of match: Zeb Kyle, Northern; Desmond Rankine, North West.

Rankings after preliminary round: Northern 1; South Coast 2; Peninsula 3; Metro North 4; South West 5; Sunshine Coast 6; Metro West 7; Metro East 8; Darling Downs 9; Wide Bay 10; Capricornia 11; North West 12.

                                                                                                   

day 2 results
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