In Round 6 Barker continued its winning ways by beating Cranbrook and in controversial circumstances St. Aloysius upset Trinity and Knox beat Waverley.
Aloys v Trinity by “Snort”
Aloys 19 – Trinity 14
When the full time whistle went at College Oval on Saturday afternoon, the St Aloysius 1st XV celebrated as though they had just won a grand final. And they deserved it.
I always respect a team that works out a game plan and sticks to it. St Aloysius did that on Saturday and they won through a combination of clever planning and highly committed execution.
And I don’t mean that to be faint praise – they put themselves on the line, and stuck to their strategy, which was to spoil Trinity’s ball, defend tenaciously, and spin the ball wide whenever they had the chance. Without their leading forward, Williams, and with their star back, Goodearl, looking tentative on his return from injury, this was a mighty performance.
The scoring
Whicker’s early try gave Trinity a 7-0 advantage before St Aloysius responded through lock De Lorenzo from short range, and a second try, to Mytkowski.
It was 14-7 at half time, and late in the second half St Aloysius pushed it out to 19-7 when a smart backline move left winger Comerford with only a cover-defending prop to beat.
Kotobalavu hit back with a brilliant solo try for Trinity, beating several defenders with speed and strength in a 60 metre try-scoring run. When the try was converted Trinity were only five points behind but there was nor further scoring and Aloys won 19-17.
The teams
Overall, the spoiling tactics and generally sub-par skill level on both sides made this a poor spectacle.
Aloys
St Aloysius attacked willingly whenever they had the chance.
Trinity
They didn’t have the tactical acumen to counter the stifling defence (not one chip-and-chase was attempted). Instead, their fly half stood very deep and static, so when the ball went through the backs Trinity started a long way behind the advantage line and often lost ground.
The players
Aloys
Best for St Aloysius was Goodearl, who was lively in attack despite a heavily heavily strapped ankle. Several times he was badly exposed in defence, especially by McLean and Kotobalavu. Slaven, the flanker, was the smallest forward on the field but worked tirelessly.
Trinity
Props McLean and Satiu were excellent – one barging run by Satiu, followed by a one-handed offload, was the single most skilful play of the game. Kotobalavu was excellent whenever he had the ball. Barkley-Brown tried hard but had little impact – he always tries to beat his man on the outside, but that often results in him running further across field than downfield.
Match details
Scoring
[one_half last=”no”]St. Aloysius — 19
Tries: Mytkowski, Comerford, De Lorenzo
Conversions: Vevers (2)
Yellow cards: Aloys — One
[/one_half]
[one_half last=”yes”]Trinity — 10
Tries: Whicker, Kotobalavu
Conversions: Ebeling (2)
Yellow cards: Trinity — Two
[/one_half]
Click on the arrow to get to Page 2 to read a report of the Knox v. Scots game by “Elfster”
