Central Queensland Capras produced one of their most complete attacking performances of the season, overcoming a spirited Tweed Seagulls comeback to storm home for a 54-24 victory at Aurizon Stadium in Round 18 of the Hostplus Cup.

The home side threatened to blow the game open after racing to a 20-0 lead inside the opening 20 minutes. Connor Guley opened the scoring in just the second minute before Valentine Richard, Lewis Symonds and Blake Anders all crossed as the Capras carved through the Seagulls’ defence. Trey Brown landed two early conversions to cap a blistering start.

Tweed refused to let the contest slip away.

The visitors hit back with late first-half tries to Sunny Kama and Kaylen Miller to trail just 20-12 at the break, before carrying that momentum into the second half. Although Bailey Cavanough restored the Capras’ buffer moments after the restart, Tweed answered again through Luke Cesari and Kyle Pickering, with Tim Carson converting both to cut the margin to just 26-24.

At that point, the match was there to be won.

Instead, the Capras produced their best football of the afternoon.

Rodrick Tai broke the deadlock in the 60th minute before Bob Tenza crossed five minutes later to create breathing space. Nixon Putt then extended the lead before Central Queensland piled on three more tries in the final eight minutes. Radean Robinson finished with a double, Tenza completed his own brace, and Brown added the final conversion as the Capras turned a tense two-point contest into a commanding 30-point victory.

While the scoreboard blew out late, the result was built on the Capras’ ability to respond when momentum swung against them. After conceding three tries in the opening 11 minutes of the second half, they never allowed Tweed another point, instead scoring the final seven tries of the match to emphatically settle the contest.

Key performers

• Bob Tenza and Radean Robinson scored two tries apiece, while Trey Brown finished with 10 points from five conversions.
• Nixon Putt led the Capras with 256 running metres and crossed for a second-half try.
• Tane Kiriona was immense through the middle with 31 tackles, 219 running metres and 15 tackle breaks.
• Central Queensland dominated the yardage battle with 1,738 running metres, 13 line breaks and 58 tackle breaks while controlling 55 per cent of possession.