Success at Machans Beach

By August 3, 2017Match Report

What a day. Unusually, both grades were fighting for a shot at ending the season in second place on their respective ladders.

Reserve grade were in second spot but playing the top team and a loss would reduce them to third, but with still a chance of a second place finish if they beat Southside next game and Penhryn lost to top side Barron.

A grade was in third spot but a win would put them in reach of second place if they could beat Southside next week. Hopes of fourth placed Brothers beating Southside were dashed when we heard that they had lost to Southside 31 – 20. So the scene was set.

Reserve Grade

We held them in the first half against the wind. Gary Parker sprang a surprise when he kicked in the wind but into space, from our half and winger Brad Manoi sprinting down the sideline and retrieving the ball, beat one tackler the outpaced the full-back to score in the corner – much to the delight of his dad who was at the game, and barracking loudly. We then lost long-time club stalwart Brian McCarthy with a recurrent shoulder injury. The opening try by us was a warning taken seriously and the Bulls who knuckled down to business – literally! A player from each side spent 10 minutes in the sin bin.

We fell way in the second half as we struggled to maintain possession and implement a game plan, eventually losing 29 (5 tries and but only 2 conversions) to 15 (2 tries, 1 conversion, 1 penalty).

Man of the match went to the much improved Andre Klink….3 points. 2 points to the ever committed Ryan Godfrey, and 1 point to a mistake free Rob Rodokal at five-eighth.

Managers Mug went to David “Disco” Ryan recovering some of the form he showed in previous years in the second row.

A Grade

The Bulls would finish on top of the season table, even if they lost the last two games, due to their for and against record. The Mariners on the other hand needed a bonus point win to give them a chance of finishing in the top two, thereby guaranteeing two chances of reaching the grand final. To outsiders this might have seemed most unlikely. But the boys thought otherwise, and went about enforcing our game plan. With a dying wind behind us we kept our attacking pressure on and were rewarded with our pick and drive going over near the corner for the first try. With no recognised kicker in the side, flanker Bryce Stanley accepted the challenged and astounded the spectators by slotting the conversion. He seemed undecided which foot to kick with but settled on the left foot. He then repeated the dose after no. 8 Christian Aruha fought his way over the line; again much amazement from the supporters. With an attack down the right hand side of the field reaching half-way, the ball was swung out to inside centre Lachlan Aruha who with great vision and application of the principle of looking for space, cross-kicked for winger Djaua Somare to sprint down the left hand touchline and compete with his opposing winger who had turned and chased. But Django showing great presence of mind and dexterity, snatched the ball out of the air and scored in the left corner. Bryce, again faced with a sideline kick and decision about which foot to kick with, chose his left foot and again found the black dot between the posts, to the enjoyment of the crowd. We went into half-time up three converted tries to one.

The second half saw us maintain our structure and Barron try to wrest back the initiative with player changes. The intensity of the first half was of finals standard, and took its toll. Barron ran in two more tries and felt they might be in with a chance of a comeback but our boys rallied. Firstly, Christian, having a great game in attack and defence, crossed and then full-back Dudley Miles from a set play move off a scrum. Again both were converted by Bryce, the supporters now laughing with satisfaction at the incredulous kicking performance.

Final score: Mariners 35 defeated Bulls 19, and securing the all important bonus point win.

Man of the Match: Who else but Mr Nobody for his amazing “perfect” kicking performance (5 out of 5) as well as the on field effort at open side flanker. The other points were split between Liam Duncan (hooker) and Christian Aruha with 2 each, and 1 each to the wingers Djaua Somare and Andre Klink (backing up after a Man of the Match performance in Reserve grade).

Manager Mug went to Lock Nick Cameron.

The day ended on a sad note as outside centre Matt Smith was carried off the field with a suspected recurrence of his ACL disruption, having only returned to Rugby as few weeks ago.

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