Here is an informal report of Waverley v Aloysius.
by “Anonymous Al”
Waverley 34 — St Aloysius 17
With less than half of the players on the field being Year 12 students and with a few U16s players thrown in, the result of this match between two young teams came down to commitment and execution in defence. With Waverley scoring twice as many points as St Aloysius, they also defended twice as well to earn the right to sing their victory song for the first time this season.
First Half
Alos must have had 75% of the possession in the first half and were parked down Waverley’s end of the field for most of the half, but could only find their way across the try line twice. Tries were scored by the big rangy Alec Diamond and the determined Liam Shiel-Dick.
Alos, even though they were on the right end of a very favourable penalty count, struggled to score points. On quite a few occasions they were were within inches of the try line but couldn’t break through. Waverley showed tremendous courage and determination with their goal line defence to continually thwart Alos attempts to score.
Waverley only managed to advance into the Alos 22 zone four times during the first half but put on two tries from those limited opportunities. Speedy U16s winger Jackson Mohi scored a classy try off a chip kick from fullback Dion Narayan to post the Waves first points.
The second was scored by number 6 Eamon Wright who backed up 9 Fred Giutronich after he sliced through the Alos defence.
Half time score Waverley 14-10
Second Half
The second half saw Waverley enjoy good field position. They crossed the try line three more times through some Alos defence that was forced into disarray through the continual go-forward from the Waverley forwards.
Non-stop-worker number 8 Zac Cardissilaris, jack-in-the-box 10 Tyzac Bailey and the more than capable replacement half back Cooper Murphy all posted 5 pointers on the back of some good Waverley field position. Waverley clearly dominated the second half with the strong running Eamon Wright leading the way. Hugo Vlachos posted Alos’ sole try for the half.
The Teams
Waverley
Waverley strung two halves of rugby together for the first time this season and dug deep as a team to defend their own goal line so valiantly in the first half; that would have lifted them. But they put themselves in that position by giving too many penalties away and through some lapses in defence mid-field; they’re not good enough to be giving the better teams in the competition similar advantages. Waverley looked like they were really pumped for this game and showed an impressive team spirit.
Their front row ended up dominating the scrums and their tight five and hooker dominated possession at the line out with number 2 Arthur McKenna proving to be an accurate thrower. Will Carr was strong over the ball; Eamon Wright ramped up his work rate up in the second half gaining good metres with strong carries and inspired his team mates to be the dominant team offensively. Justin Cooper and Zac Cardissilaris were non-stop workers.
Centre pairing Henry Patterson and Jordan Bracewell troubled the opposition with strong ball carries and defence.
St Aloysius
St Aloysius’ defence was their biggest problem on the day. Their kick-chase game was excellent but they couldn’t convert good field position into points.
The Alos outside backs looked dangerous when they were on the attack. The busy centre pairing of Sam Lawson and Hugo Vlachos defended strongly and looked threatening with ball in hand.
Big number 11 Alec Diamond showed he has ability and can leap for the ball as well as any AFL player. The smart thinking number 10 James Dainton and the talented half back Jack Thomas impressed as did number 6 Liam Shiel-Dick who was strong over the ball. 7 Nick Slaven pilfered and worked tirelessly all game.
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[/one_half]Photos on this page courtesy of https://www.facebook.com/waverleysport
