Knox 58 – Waverley 31
by “Elfster”
On a balmy late Autumn day a large crowd made it to Wahroonga to watch Knox host Waverley in the festive atmosphere of an increasing bewildering and bizarre event that is known as Knox Gala Day.
Knox was wanting to maintain their good start to the season, whilst Waverley was looking to their first win.
First half
Waverley came out with great enthusiasm and intensity and took it to their more fancied opponents from the start. They applied pressure, gained momentum and won some penalties.
They attacked the Knox line and in their best structured try of the game their 6 E Wright make a good burst to score. The try was duly converted and Waverley was on song. In the first ten minutes they were more composed and deserved their ascendency.
The next period was a bit of an arm wrestle, penalty goals were exchanged and though hard, the game was meandering. A bit of schoolboy enthusiasm saw both 6’s sin binned and this seemed to wake up Knox: the game’s outlook changed in an instant.
Their captain – Widders-Leece showed pace and power to score a long distance try.
Knox got composure and started playing well-constructed Rugby. They used their more powerful forwards to good effect and out-muscled and wore down Waverley. In a 15 minute period they put on six tries.
Waverley was struggling to compete, and looked a class below Knox now—at 39 to 10 Waverley was looking at a massacre.
Then the game changed again, with less than ten minutes to go in the half Knox started giving away a considerable number of penalties. The Knox players looked frustrated and it was like that to watch.
After a string of around half-a-dozen or more penalties B Sullivan crashed over for Waverley. From a distance I am uncertain about the sudden penalty surge, especially due to the Knox dominance. And with the large number of penalties given out I was surprised there were no yellow cards.
At oranges it was 39 – 17, and the second half was looking quite ominous for Waverley.
Second half
The second half transformed into a rather disappointing and scrappy affair.
With good determination Waverley held on and kept out some good breaks by Knox. Again Knox cruelled their chances with too many penalties, poor handling and bad decision making.
That said there were some good tries scored. The Knox 12 J Williams scored a good showing pace and guile. The Knox replacement half added some spark with a dash off the scrum to score. Deep in attack the Waverley 10 grabbed an intercept which resulted in another try to Wright.
Knox duly replied with a try to Van Zyl. A head-high tackle had a Waverley player sin-binned with minutes to go. Knox couldn’t capitalise and a bit of individual brilliance saw Paterson to score in the dying moments.
The Teams
Waverley will improve. They probably need more direction in attack and should run off Paterson more. They lack power in the forwards and may need to look at some of the 2nds players. (Though the Waverley seconds were hopelessly outclassed. )
You can’t fault their spirit though – they never gave up. I think the score flattered Waverley. With the amount of possession through penalties they did struggle to breach the Knox defence.
In defending, they made good use of the ref’s tolerance of their enthusiasm to get over the offside line early. I think they are suffering a little with depth and need a few more games to gel. Their 7 L Spurr went off in the first half with an injury, I hope it isn’t too serious.
Knox has an issue with discipline and application. The number of penalties they give away would be a great concern. Though even with four tries scored against them, their defence is strong.
They also need to be more clinical, keep concentrating on avoiding basic errors and work more as a team. That said some of their errors were due to pushing the envelope a little too much.
They are a well structured and balanced side. Their forwards are strong and skillful and there is pace and ability in the backs. There is still some improvement in this team.
Players
For Waverley, Paterson was their stand-out. He made some breaks and was willing to give it a go. Their fullback T Bailey was stout in defence. Wright was also committed and stood out with his brace of tries.
For Knox you could mention the usual suspects, but Field and Williams in the backs had good games. At 12 Field offers sound defence and potency in attack. Pierce 7 had some noticeable breaks and Widders-Leece does like to have a gallop with ball in hand—and he is good at it.
Scoring
Knox 58 ( J Widders-Leece 2, S Field 2, G Badenhorst, J Willaims, B Van Zyl, L Price, L Bosch tries: S Field 4 goals, L Price goal, pen ) def Waverley 31 ( E Wright 2, B Sullivan, H Patern tries; D Narayan 4 goals, pen )
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