1st Grade

The 1st Grade team had a exciting 32-27 win over Melbourne on Saturday, which you could easily say was a game of two halves.

The 1st half started well with a charge down try scored by Paulo Aukuso in the 2nd minute of play which was quickly followed by a penalty goal to give the team an 8-0 lead after only 10 minutes. That is where the joy ended for the first half as Melbourne rallied to score 3 converted tries and a penalty to lead at the half 24-8. Some lazy defence was primarily to fault along with some simple but smart catch and pass backline play from Melbourne.

The 2nd half started well with Pana scoring a good wingers try in the corner which was quickly followed by the forwards scoring a pick and go try close to the line – this brought the scores back to 24-18 because unfortunately Josh wasn’t having the best day with the boot having missed 2 easy conversions and a 3rd wider out conversion. After sustained pressure Paulo Aukuso picked up his second try with a switch move back to the inside under the posts and Josh kicked the goal for us to hit the lead 25-24 with 15 minutes to go. A poor kickoff receive gave Melbourne some field position and they immediately capitalised on this with a penalty to take back the lead 27-25. The next 10 minutes saw us gain a number of try scoring opportunities that we just couldn’t quite get the ball over the line before some quick hands in the backs sent Pana over for his second try of the day which was converted to give a 32-27 lead with 5 minutes to go. With some desperate defence the team held on for a great come from behind win because the guys didn’t panic and had faith in what they could do.

2nd Grade

Harlequins come up against the inform Melbourne team who were on top of the table with maximum points and only 10 points scored in games against them so far. Harlequins started the game strongly and put Melbourne under a lot of pressure but could not break through and after 20 minutes the game was still scoreless. Melbourne was then able to work their way into Harlequins half and turn pressure into points, scoring a try which was converted. No more points were scored in the remainder of the half and Melbourne held a 7 – 0 lead at the break.

Into the second half and again Harlequins were able to put Melbourne under pressure and then in front of the posts, Melbourne had a player sent to the sin bin. Harlequins turned down the penalty opportunity and opted for a scrum. Harlequins went for a backline move, however a pass was intercepted and Melbourne went the length of the field to score. Harlequins never recovered and Melbourne score two late tries to take all the points from the match. The difference in the match being that Harlequins struggled to turn pressure into points and Melbourne strong difference. The 26 – 0 score line didn’t reflect the closeness and toughness of the game.

Team points : 3 – Bill Darby 2 – Troy Drew 1 – Donal O’Connell