A lovely sunny day at Southern districts home ground saw some very entertaining rugby. Fourth grade was won by Wicks 35 -5 but most of their points came in the last twenty minutes. Souths were desperate at the breakdown and managed to disrupt any ball.
This disruption carried on in third grade where Wicks also got up 38-51. Special mention for the winger Wing Kee who can walk a tightrope down any sideline.
Souths in second grade were very up beat and with the score at 17-12 to Wicks , sths looked to be coming home well until a dubious intercept try by the 5 for wicks had them kick on to win 24-12. The Wicks were prevented from getting into gear by souths taking the metre on offer over the ball and causing any amount of disruption. A bit of old fashioned cleaning out at the breakdown is needed if the Wicks are to win against the heavyweights.
First grade was always going to be hard for the Wicks ,with the very large Sths pack ready to inflict pain. To their credit ,Wicks scored the first try and were well in the game after the first twenty five minutes as Sths were dropping ball .
Finally the real Sths stood up and scored on the outside after a set piece. This was followed up by another out wide after another set piece. At 15-5 the Wicks scored a very good try by Wright which was started by Asa on a barnstorming run from 65 metres out. half time saw the score at 15-12 to souths after randwick missed a sitter of a penalty at the bell.
The second half started well for Sths who must have had a decent talk in the bunker. Three points were quickly followed by a great try from Sths 13 following an inside kick from the wing. 25-12 and Wicks were looking done as they started to give up some tight heads but desperation in defence had Souths give the ball to Wright who ran half the field to score under the posts . At 25-19 souths must have wondered what they needed to do , so they went about getting more tight heads and the scrums had become a nightmare for Wicks. In fact the only way they were going to win a scrum was to take a lineout. scrums were becoming penalties and pretty soon the score was 31-19 and then 38- 19,followed by another try out wide to have the score at 43-19 with only 30 seconds on the clock. In a show of great attitude, Wicks got their fourth try after the bell to have the final score at 43-26.
Throughout the day souths had the better of the breakdowns and the Wicks would do well to consider a bit more weight at that point to ensure that any ball they take in stays with them.
Souths backs ran at speed and gave the ball width which was why most tries were scored by wingers in the corners. Wicks wingers had several two on ones against them which made their lives difficult.
The Uni score against Gordon must be a misprint , if not ,then get that yappies' waitress over quick.
