Another week, another guest writer. Thanks for the article from Craig Basford and brilliant images from Bobby Devine Rugby Pics (find on Instagram)
Science tells us that the flow of time is not constant. Science tells us that time can speed up and slow down relative to the object experiencing it. Just thinking about it can hurt our brains, but on occasion we see in action what science can sometimes struggle to explain to the layman.
On Sunday, all who were at the U16 grand final between minor premiers Woodville and the 3rd placed Brighton witnessed time slow down as our collective conscious focussed on a ball, but we’ll get to that soon enough.
Before this intergalactic ripple was felt, a most remarkable game of rugby was being played out. Woodville, minor premiers with only 1 loss for the year and fresh off a 31-0 win against Onkaparinga the week before, came out of the blocks in the most astonishing fashion. It was the classic Midas touch, everything they tried worked. Before the opposition knew what had happened Woodville were 26-0 in front after only 20 minutes.
Conversely, Brighton having beaten Old Collegians 28-24 at the death to make the GF looked to have no answer. The one thing they had in their favour was that in the semi the week before they found themselves in similar circumstance. In that game they were 17-0 down early and 17-7 at half time. They had belief and evidence that they could come back and come back they did.
Despite the scoreline looking ominous, Brighton stuck to their task and slowly worked themselves into the game. They found space wide and made use of it. That and a couple of Woodville yellow cards had Woodville up 26-7 at oranges with Brighton still having a mountain to climb but reason to believe they could conquer their own Everest a second week in a row.
The second half brought more staunch fightback from Brighton as they continued to chip away at the lead. The Woodville seemed to have gone from the penthouse to the outhouse and couldn’t catch a break; however, they were able to get a couple of penalty goals which proved very handy indeed.
Brighton continued to keep the ball in hand and worked the wide channels, Woodville kept resisting but weight of possession was now working for the yellow and black of Brighton. With 4 minutes to go the Brighton winger crashes over in the corner to bring the Tigers within a point with the conversion to come. The Brighton 10 had been playing lights out to this point and was slotting them from everywhere.
He approaches the ball to send it on its way as the fastest Woodville men do all they can to prevent it, but, alas, they’re too late, the ball is en route. Time slows to a crawl for everyone invested in this game as if the collective stare of the crowd is enough to bend time itself. Everyone fixated as the ball heads toward its target, straight and true. Then the ball starts to slow and bend ever so slightly, you could hear the silence from three towns over before it was broken…. *DONG* the ball strikes the cross bar flush and bounces out. The score remains 32-31 to Woodville with 3 minutes of game time remaining.
From the ensuing kick-off the ball is retrieved by Brighton and maybe affected by the pressure of the situation kicked out on the full, thus giving Woodville precious possession in the right area of the field. From here Woodville were able to do what Old Collegians couldn’t the week before. They were able to deploy their forward battering rams keep the ball in the right area of the field long enough to chew up the remaining time, so by the time Brighton had forced a knock-on it was too late. The game was done and an absorbing battle had a result; 32-31 to Woodville.
Woodville were jubilant, Brighton heartbroken but proud as time resumed its normal flow. How good is rugby!
