A sea of black and white swarmed over the North Ipswich Reserve today as the Souths Logan Magpies clinched the Queensland Wizard Cup with an epic 24-18 victory over the Ipswich Jets.

In an amazing match, the Magpies sealed the win in the final minute of play when Kyle Lodge broke out of a desperate tackle to snap an 18-18 deadlock.

Referee Justin Eastwood went to the video referee, who ruled a fair try despite protests of a double movement.

An army of Magpies supporters invaded the ground before the conversion had been taken, sparking wild scenes as the proud club celebrated a maiden Queensland Wizard Cup premiership

“This is one of the best feelings ever. I’m just so pumped right now,” said star Magpies fullback Quentin Laulu Togagae.

“Even at the end, I knew we could get it done. We just had to believe in ourselves.”

Magpies assistant coach Mark Tookey praised his team’s courage.

“We only had one interchange left with about 15 minutes to go,” Tookey said.

“There were three blokes who kept telling us they have to come off. I just sent the message out, ‘I don’t care if you’re about to die, you’re staying on’.

“I’ve never had premiership success at this level and it’s just a great achievement for everyone in the club.”

Jets skipper Danny Coburn heaped praise on the Magpies in his post-match speech and thanked his own players for a tremendous season.

The Jets paid the price for a sloppy first-half.

Ipswich made a nightmare start, with prop Aaron Sweeney losing the ball after being crunched in the opening tackle of the game.

The more intense Magpies made the Jets pay when Cy Lasscock sliced through to score.

Souths Logan pulled further in front in the seventh minute when crafty hooker McKanah Gibson snuck over from dummy half.

Tim Cannard landed the conversion to make it 10-0.

The Jets first real scoring opportunity came after 22 minutes when outstanding young forward Kurtis Lingwoodock received a perfect inside pass and set sail for the try-line.

But the video referee ruled that Lingwoodock had lost the ball over the line.

Just as the Jets looked to be gaining the ascendancy, Souths Logan winger Mat Templeman intercepted an Ian Lacey pass and sprinted 50m to score.

Cannard converted for a 16-0 lead.

Souths Logan’s ferocious defence continually repelled the Jets, who spilt the ball close to the line on numerous occasions in the first half.

The Magpies took an 18-0 lead into half-time after Josh White kicked a penalty goal.

The massive contingent of Ipswich fans who packed into the North Ipswich Reserve finally had something to cheer about in the 44th minute when Michael Ryan sliced through to score.

The momentum was firmly with the Jets when Donald Malone scored in the corner from a lucky grubber kick deflection.

Josh Lewis raised the flags, although a furious Souths Logan camp claimed the ball had missed to the right upright.

It proved to be a crucial ruling as the scores were soon locked up when big prop Aaron Sweeney scored an outstanding solo try and Lewis converted.

Both sides traded field goal attempts but it was not a one-pointer which decided the result.

The Magpies set up for a field goal in the final minute, but caught the Jets napping when Alby Talipeau elected to run the ball.

The ball found its way to Lodge, who did the rest to win the game.

Talipeau received the Duncan Hall Medal as the game’s best and fairest player.
 
SOUTHS LOGAN 24 (Kyle Lodge, Cy Lasscock, McKanah Gibson, Mat Templeman tries; Tim Cannard 2, Josh White 2 goals) def IPSWICH 18 (Michael Ryan, Donald Malone, Aaron Sweeney tries; Josh Lewis 3 goals).

 Crowd: 6,000