My reflections on today's SJRU A grade semis finals... Let me start by saying that my info on the Norths team was pretty crap, they looked at full strength to me.
Game 1 - Norths 20 v Hills 5: Possession is the key word here. Hills looked threatening every time they got the ball particularly through their back line, specifically the centres. The problem was that they didn't get too much ball at all. Norths forwards completely dominated the contest and strangled Hills into submission. A worry for Norths is that the score was not reflective of their territorial and possession dominance. Seems to me that they are lacking the ability to finish as clinically as last year. In terms of the key battles, Tepai vs Robbie was fairly even, both having some good runs and turning up in defence. Williams however completely won the battle vs Matson in the lineout. If I was to pick stand outs, the whole Norths pack, plus the two centres from Hills and their Number 8 was threatening.
Game 2 - Merrylands 19 v Hawkesbury 10: Wow, what a game this proved to be. Hawkesbury were dominant in every aspect in the first half leading 10 - 0 at half time. However they seemed to run out of gas in the second half and the Merrylands forwards took over. In terms of the five eighth battle it was a tale of two halves, largely driven by factors outside their control. One thing I did notice was that Jamo kicks far too often. Not sure if it is the Merrylands gameplan, but some of the kicking was pointless. Malaki was his usual aggressive self but my pick of the day was Merrylands prop (wearing 6). Outstanding performance from him.
Conclusions from today - This year's Sydney A grade competition is seriously close and anyone can win. Personally I think Norths have got just that little bit of extra class, but anyone of the 3 could easily win. Bwaddles has been smoking some seriously funny stuff... Roseville would lose by 100 points against any of the 4 A grade sides on show today.
:yay
