Last week saw a couple of disappointing losses for the seniors against Elizabeth. Uni who will be looking to bounce back against Port. The juniors had an undefeated weekend - also against Elizabeth - and head to Woodville filled with confidence.
Also congratulations go to Brett Smith, who has been elected to the Board of Rugby Union SA for a 3 year term. Well done Brett. It is great that an active member of the Club will be involved in the oversight and development of the game in SA.
Games this weekend
Senior As – away at Port – 3.20 pm
Senior Bs – away at Port – 2 pm
Under 6/7s – away at Woodville – 8am
Under 8s – away at Woodville – 8am
Under 10s – away at Woodville – 8.40am
Under 12s – away at Woodville – 10am
Under 14s – away at Woodville – 11am
Senior As (loss to Elizabeth)
A true game of two halves!
The first half saw Uni start slowly, and a relentless and bigger Elizabeth side took advantage immediately. A flurry of tries followed and the Uni team went to the half time break trailing 33-0.
To Uni’s credit, the second half told a different tale. Despite going “up the hill”, Uni looked a different side. Maintaining possession and intensity for long periods, Uni was rewarded with a succession of tries. Unfortunately, Elizabeth was also able to score twice, resulting in a final scoreline of 47-3.
Max Douglass continued his remarkable feat of scoring two tries for the day – for the third week running! James Jagness also marked his first game of the season with a 2 try effort, whilst Ben Russell scored one try, and Federico Tondini kicked 3 conversions.
Best forward on the day was Chris Spooner who was involved in everything, whilst Matt Mooney had an outstanding game – strong in defence, and really taking control of the backline, especially in the second half.
The As should draw strength from their second half performance and head down to Port with the knowledge that if they can find composure early and weather the initial storm, they have the attacking firepower to win.
Senior Bs (loss to Elizabeth)
This was definitely the one that got away….
The Bs had a 1 man advantage all game, but conceded 2 tries in the early minutes of the game to be trailing 12-0. It looked like they were going to get steam rolled by their bigger opponents.
However, led by some hard tackling from Lex Baker, Mounir Cuthbertson and Seb Amodeo, Uni clawed its way back into contention. The backs were inspired by a vigorous effort from Ricki Irons. Eventually, a few minutes from half time, Paul Blaze on the right wing made good ground to complete a fine attacking move and score right in the corner. Unfortunately Seb could not complete the difficult conversion.
More was to come. Right on the stroke of half time, Elizabeth was deep in attack and looked certain to score – however, somehow Uni managed to turn over possession off an Elizabeth knock-on, and Uni captain John Mangira streaked away, to score under the posts. Seb made no mistake with the conversion.
The second half was a grim battle with both teams making many errors. Uni scored a penalty (kicked by Seb Amodeo) to take the lead (15-12), and then held Elizabeth scoreless for a long period. Uni had plenty of opportunities, but errors and poor option-taking meant that none of these chances could be converted to points. Eventually, against the run of play, Elizabeth managed to score a try (unconverted) to take a 17-15 lead.
Late in the game, a promising kick and chase by Ricki was thwarted by what appeared to be an obstruction right in front of the posts. Unfortunately, no penalty was awarded, and Elizabeth counter attacked to score under the posts shortly thereafter. Uni’s hopes of snatching a win were dashed. Final score: 24-15.
A key lesson for Uni is to maintain composure, and to stick to the game plan, especially when inside the defensive 22. This is a game Uni should have won comfortably, and we should be confident of repeating our Round 1 win against Port this coming weekend.
Under 6/7s
This Saturday saw another great game for the U7’s, despite the very shabby state of the assistant coach (sorry Paul!). The team are starting to follow their training well, and putting together good passing and running combinations.
The final tally for Saturday was 8 tries each, however my (unbiased!) view is that we had the better run of game, with a lot of Elizabeth’s tries being scored by quick breaks and a couple of questionable restart/offside procedures! There were a number of stand-out performances, including tries for Lachlan, Julien, Millie and Finn, and a superb hat-trick for Rocco who dodged around other players with great skill. Auden and Johnny were involved in a number of the plays, and the overall performance was one for the team to be proud of.
Spirit of Rugby points for the team were ably awarded by Jack Parkinson (scorer!), Paul and myself as follows:
Millie – 1 point for another consistent performance, good running from the back and a try!
Finn – 2 points for seeming to always be involved in the plays and had a number of good runs. Unlucky to only get one try – could have been more, and thanks for your captaincy on the day!
Rocco – 3 points for an amazing start to his rugby career! Hard to believe this was only his second game, as he showed great ability to move quickly into space and dodge around opponents.
Thanks as well to Matt Steemson for his help with the BBQ, and to Vikki and Kate for being the lovely bartenders! Other clubs love coming to Waite because we put on such a good show, and your help in making this happen is always appreciated.
Under 8s
Match report:
A cracking second game from the 8's this week resulted in a spirited win over a strong Old Cols outfit. Plenty of real rugby on show from both teams led to a heavily contested breakdown and strong tackling. A number of great trys coming off the back of some excellent offloads was a real treat on the day! Great effort and involvement on display from all the boys on the day. Well done to Shin for clocking up his first official game for the club.
A huge thank you to Old Cols for bringing the team down and ensuring we had a great morning of rugby. Thank you Vikki for your continued support and dedication to organizing such outcomes. Last but definitely not least thank you to all the parents, great to see the full team on show and working together so well!
Malcolm O'Farrell
Under 10s
Home V Elizabeth
Won 40 – 7
SOR: Nick M 3, Malakai 2, Lylah 1
Tries: Connor 3, Xavier S 2, Harry 1
Conversions: Joseph 5
Another excellent win for these boys and girls who are growing together well as a team. We had an early scare as we leant Elizabeth 4 players to make it 15 a side. Nick M scored an excellent try which was converted by Joseph and we were 7-0 down! The first half was excellent competitive rugby and great fun to watch. It was good to welcome Malakai and Jay into the side and both had excellent games. My highlights from the 1st half were: Jordy and Malakai’s tackles and seeing Jordy almost score in the corner. In the second half AU Rugby cut loose scoring 6 unanswered tries. Xavier S had an outstanding game on the wing scoring two and nearly getting a hattrick. Connor continues to run straight with great power. He was rewarded with 3 tries, similarly Harry is quite unstoppable in full flight and he scored his second of the season. It is incredible to think that a handful of the team are only in their second game of rugby, their progression is amazing.
Joseph kicked beautifully only missing one conversion all day.
SOR: Lylah for continuing to work hard in defence and support players in attack, she was rewarded with some excellent runs with the ball. Malakai for his excellent tackling and running and giving everything to the game he plays with such passion and enthusiasm. Nick M for being such a great team player. He unselfishly passed the ball twice when he could have scored. Nick plays with such authority and like all quality players he seems to have so much time when he has the ball.
My final mention is to Joseph who grows with every game he plays. Like Nick he is such a balanced runner with so much time and control with ball in hand. His distribution was again really very good.
With over 4 tries we secure a bonus point taking us to a maximum of 10 points from 2 games.
Next week we are back at Woodville with an early 8.40am KO
Chris Tan
Under 12s
I would like to thank the U10’s who backed up after their game for the 12’s giving us a full team plus a reserve for the second week in a row.
We started a lot better this week with our breakdown work again coming to the fore and with a low tackle count from the opposition Will zig zag over for only try of the day.
From then on I think that Uni thought that it would be the same as last week and went to sleep.
Except for a few stand out players such as Charlie who’s breakdown work was as good as you would see in any seniors match, his tackling along with Wills and U10 Hugh saving us on many occasion. I would also like to mention Mathias who’s busting runs tore the opposition apart. This should have led to us applying heaps of pressure only to have the ball turned over because the support just didn’t arrive.
To sum up, and I’m not pulling punches here, our defence, tackling and decision making was pour. We didn’t take space, tackled to high hence the ease of the fending off of our players and too many individuals playing one out rugby with no support.
I don’t know where the team was from last week but it sure wasn’t out there this week.
That said and forever the optimist, I’m sure the team who played the first game will be back this weekend stronger and wiser.
Points Charlie 3, Mathias 2, Hugh 1 (U10)
See you all at practice.
Peter
2018 Draw
The 2018 Home Game Schedule for the rest of the season follows, with our senior opponents listed in brackets:
12 May (Elizabeth)
26 May (Barossa)
16 June (Port)
30 June (Elizabeth)
21 July (Barossa)
4 August (Port)
18 August (Elizabeth)
Junior home games will be held on the same day as senior home games listed above.
Training nights
Training nights are as follows:
Monday: Seniors, Romas
Tuesday: Juniors
Wednesday: Romas
Thursday: Seniors, Juniors
Friday: Romas
Senior training commences at 6.30pm sharp, with an 8pm finish.
The Bar is open on Thursday nights until around 9pm. All our welcome to drop by, have an ale or two, catch up with old friends, and find out about what is happening around the Club!
Volunteers wanted!
The Club runs on its volunteers.
We are especially looking for a video cameraman, to record both senior games every weekend. This is an important role, which for many years has been ably filled by Janice Knight. We now need to find someone else to take on the role. It doesn't need to be commercial tv quality - but the videos are important, both for coaching purposes, but also to have a video record of any on-field disciplinary incidents. Anyone who is willing to take this on, please let Jim McMillan know as a matter of urgency - 0417 476 982 or by email at jmcmillan@murraychambers.com.au
If you want to get involved for the 2018 season in any capacity, your help will be greatly appreciated. Volunteer roles span the full spectrum of the Club's activities, but we especially need help for match days, with running the BBQ and the bar, and ground setup and packup. Let Nick O'Brien (nickhob@hotmail.com), Vikki Chave (vikkichave71@gmail.com) or Jim McMillan (jmcmillan@murraychambers.com.au) know if you can help out in any capacity.
|
