The Griffith University Dragons produced a stunning 12-point fight back to rob the Griffith Gold Coast Panthers of a historic inaugural URLQ victory at Runaway Bay last Wednesday night.

Trailing by eight with 12 twelve minutes left on the clock, the Dragons capitalised on handy field position to grab an unlikely 36-32 victory in an entertaining encounter.

In a match dominated by punishing defence, it was the Dragons that drew first blood off the back of a fortuitous 40/20 kick, with centre Itaru Matsino scoring off a brilliant grubber from the back of a scrum.

The Panthers then posted the next three tries through some enterprising play, before the Dragons posted two converted tries in the final five minutes of the half for an 18-all half-time scoreline.

The new Gold Coast team looked as if they were about to post a memorable first-up victory in their first season when they shot out to a handy 32-24 lead inside the final quarter, before the experience of the Dragons snatched the points.

In Wednesday’s other match,

The Gatton Bulls have come away with a narrow 4 point victory against the UQ hounds in the UQ derby 18-14 at Nathan last night.  The Gatton boys turned up with a full squad which was good to see after they had to forfeit their first game due to a lack of numbers. 

The UQ Hounds on the other hand only had 15 players due to some injury concerns over the first 2 weeks of the season. UQ scored the opening try out wide and even though there was a lot of pressure on the try line for both sides, good defence and poor handling caused the half time score to remain 6 – 0 to the Hounds.
 
Gatton scored first in the second half and setup a you score, we score progression throughout the second half that saw the score go to 10 all and then 14 all before Gatton finally scored before full time to take the points. 

The Hounds enjoy the bye in Round 4, while the Bulls play host to the GC Panthers at Gatton, while the Trouts meet the Dragons at Nathan.

Griffith Dragons 36 (Shannon Koski 2, Jonathan Espinoza, Jeremy Taituave, Itaru Matsino, Tim Ah Sam tries; Mick Frost 6 goals)
Defeated
Griffith GC Panthers 32 (Josh Land 2, Chris McGann, Rob Fogarty, Daniel Milham, Angus Smith, Thomas Pyke tries; Warwick Ahern 4 goals)

UQ Gatton Bulls 18 (Chris Gillam 2, Ian Turner, Nick Perkons tries; Max Barot goal)
Defeated

UQ Hounds 14 (Charlie Pearson, David Bielenberg, Tyron Harvey tries; Drew Tobin goal)