Cranbrook v St. Aloysius
by “Rugby Addict”
The first Saturday of the CAS rugby season pitted traditional rivals Cranbrook and St Aloysius at Hordern Oval.
Cranbrook were looking to open their defence of the Henry Plume Shield in style and Aloysius were out to show they are credible rivals this year.
Hordern was in remarkable condition considering the amount of rain we have received and maybe some running rugby would be possible.
First Half
Cranbrook kicked off and Aloys knocked on in a nervous start to proceedings. Cranbrook took advantage of this mistake to force a penalty and within a minute were up 3-0.
After five minutes the big winger from Aloys, Alec Diamond, received a kick 60 metres out and proceeded to bust through three tackles before passing to Pete Slaven, who outpaced the cover for a try in the corner and take the score to 5-3.
Five minutes later Aloys were in again as Matt Dainton took it to the line and off loaded to Sam Lawson who ran through from 30 metres untouched to make the score 12-3.
At this stage it looked ominous for Cranbrook but the rest of the half was full of mistakes with Aloys failing to capitalise on their field position. Cranbrook kicked a late penalty and would have been relieved to only trail 12-6 at the break.
Second Half
The game took a dramatic turn at the five minute mark of the second half when Aloys’ captain Nick Cramp was red carded for what looked an innocuous attempted charge down.
Aloys’ scrum which had dominated the first half lost their advantage and both teams were now in a dogfight as the ball was slippery and this suited Cranbrook who were showing their traditional fight.
Finally Cranbrook were able to score from a driving maul and I couldn’t see who got up with the ball. The kick to take the lead from wide out was very well struck but just missed and Aloys clung to a 12-11 lead.
A late penalty goal to Alec Diamond finished the scoring at 15-11 and Aloys were very relieved to escape with a win from Hordern.
Final score: St. Aloysius 15 – Cranbrook 11
The Players
The best for Aloys were Pete Slaven, Alec Diamond and the forwards who went well as a unit and will improve dramatically on this performance.
For Cranbrook their captain Stenmark was excellent in the line out and they competed well in the tight exchanges.
Seconds was a 12 -all draw and Cranbrook won the 16A’s by about 45-5.
