JCU Mariners were on the road to Port Douglas on the weekend to take on last year’s premiers, and what a road trip it was to be. Over the past few seasons the Port Douglas home ground hasn’t always been a good hunting ground for us but we were aware that we would be in with a chance provided we stuck to our guns. With no Reserve Grade game we had the opportunity to have a fresh bench, which does come in handy. The scoring was to start early with a try to our Full Back for the match Peter “Hard Wood” Woodward all within the first 5 minutes. The conversion was unsuccessful so the score was 5 to nil. Port didn’t give up as their defence held strong, We did have plenty of opportunities to really start to bury them but unfortunately some poor handling skills and turning over ball at crucial times kept them in the game. Port went back to their game plan of old and went for the pick and drive off the back of the ruck which saw them work their way up the field. Before too long the score sheet was evened up and Port actually took the lead with their conversion going over the black dot. We did hit back just prior to half time with a try to Ralph Susuve, giving us a 12 to 7 half time lead.
At half time we spoke about a little more intensity at and around the break down as we knew Port will keep to their game plan. There was plenty of good talk and we felt that provided we stuck to our defence we would win. The second stanza was to be an arm wrestle of mammoth proportions. We where to score two more tries to Ports one to wrap the game up at 22 to 14. It was unfortunate the score did not really show how well the boys did play. Unfortunately some decisions went against us but it is hard to us that as justification for a score card that read the way it did. Fortunately we left with the bonus point and it sees us second on the ladder after the first full round. Now that we have played every one once we can be happy yet not satisfied with where we sit. We have a lot of work to go and we have room for improvement so bring on the next round.
– Norto
