watched the 3 prem grades and really enjoyed the rugby. Striking for me was that there was no real standout and no player in any grade had a really poor game. Here's my take on the day but remember while I was sober during the colts I was least soberest later...
Colts...Royals were meant to romp it in and I picked them for heaps. Vikings got stuck in early and never relented. In fact, I don't think Royals had any decent ball until around 30 minutes despite nabbing 2 tries...1 from an intercept and I think 1 from a dropped ball. A tight 2nd half and a great finish .Swain definitely made a difference for the Vikings and the Royals centres had a dig.
2's....Whites were meant to win this one but in realty never looked like doing so. 4 consecutive early penalties and led 6-0. Opting for the kick each time however, looked to me like they had no real belief that they could score. Vikings forwards surprised by more than matching the Whites, and the game became a forward slog. Whites did well to stop the ball getting to the Viking backline. can only remember Frankie making a couple of runs, 1 of which he scored late, same with Murray on the other wing. Giltrap had 1 great run but really had no other opportunities. He pulled off a try-saver early which would have seen the whites lead by 13-0 and then we might have seen a different game . Hitchens and Neata were the pick of the Vikings, no whites player really stood out but like I said earlier, no one played poorly.
1sts...a tough game as expected. Don't know if I would agree that whites had the upper hand. Scored early from Thompsons early fumble and then late with Vikings down a man. 2nd half was just plain tough and like the game before, was not for the backs. Knight and Robinson saw little ball, Thompson recovered well from his 1st up mistake and was solid, Suavai had his best game of the year and Butler was good. Noa was the pick of the whites and probably would have got MOTM if whites had won. JR had some good runs early, Penca of course and Marmont was also good. To me, Tai was quiet as was Coleman. Jackson-Hope had some good runs but a little surprised he got the award at the end. However, as I said with no real stars , he was just as deserving. A good win to the Vikings ...congratulations.
Already looking forward to next year