Premier Division Round 2 (1st May, 2010)

Our away fixture against Box Hill started very promisingly with the mighty Thirds bouncing back from their heavy defeat last week at the hands of a very fit Cerberus crew. With sterling performances by Luke Wright, Richie McLachlan and man of the match Jerry Edmonds, we scored five tries to run out convincing 31-0 victors.

The Seconds continued the positive trend with a 32-15 win against a strong Box Hill outfit. Down at half-time, coach Andrew Slyfield's men used the strong breeze intelligently in the second half to establish a commanding lead.

Meanwhile at Burke Road South, our Colts blitzed Boroondara 36-0. The strong wind made for a scrappy game, but with strong games from flanker Ryan Raubenheimer, wing Michael Shadbolt and hooker Jack North our lads were far too good for Boroondara.

We were looking set for a clean sweep of all four senior grades ten minutes into the second half of the First Grade match. With a commanding 29-15 lead and a bonus point already in the bag after four fine tries, it looked as if we would win in a canter. However, a lucky intercept, some poor defence and a succession of penalties allowed Box Hill to get back into the game.

The loss of talented young five-eighth, Josh Moore, to a dubious looking tackle also proved to be costly as the Hills scored 21 unanswered points to retain the Bruce Bailey Challenge Shield. Alofa Mika had a fine debut scoring two tries from the wing whilst Josh Moore and Edwin Lusala also had strong games for the Quins. With exciting backs such as Kaylen Brown, Pana Ravouvou, Paulo Lima, all we need is a reasonable supply of quick ball to account for Boroondara next Saturday.

2nd Grade

After a first round loss, the second’s needed a win to get their season underway. The game started with Harlequins giving away a number of penalties at the break down. Box Hill had a slight cross wind advantage and they were able to plug the corner. From the resulting lineout, Box Hill scrambled over for a try which they converted. Harlequins were then able to finally get themselves out of their own half and put Box Hill under some pressure. They were then able to convert this pressure into points, as Richard Henderson drove over for a try. The try was unconverted. Both teams then traded penalties and then more penalties conceded by Harlequins resulted in almost a identical try to Box Hill as their first. Box Hill lead 15 – 8 at half time.

The second half saw Harlequins play more rugby in the Box Hill’s half. They gave away less penalties and maintained possession for large periods of time. From the resulting pressure, cracks started to develop in the Box Hill defence. Johnny Iosefo broke through from close range for a try, which was converted. Harlequins started to play well as a team with some long range drives and great support play. After the ball going through a number of hands Greg Ellis ran over for a try and then after a slick backline move Iosefo went through untouched for the bonus point try. His try was converted. Then to finish things off Richard Henderson, who had moved to the wing, ran around his man and scored Harlequins fifth try. The final score 32 – 15 to Harlequins.

Team points: 3 - Chris Grellis 2 - Johnny Iosefo 1 - David Moyise