Easts vs Wests at Bottomely Park
Very nice day for rugby in Brisbane for this weekends fixtures, a bit cold but nothing to deter people away, which was evident as a suprisingly large crowd gathered for this one. Pre-match entertainment was quality, as a couple of u6 sides battled it out, the refs let the games flow as the traditional run 10m backwards then 15m across and then around the entire other side was the most common and effective move for try scoring. In all seriousness though, great addition for the club to bring in, it is good fun for the kids and gives the crowd something to watch in the 30minutes between Reserve Grade and the Premiers. Also good initiative as it brings down an extra 30 or so families down to watch their kids, who no doubt they buy a sasuage and drink for after the game.
Onto the match, and Wests came out firing with some very strong running. The game was open from the start, with both sides making line breaks and cutting in-roads around the second pillar channels. It was the Dogs who went over first, with their winger (?) going over after a line break from one of the tight forwards. Easts hit back straight away though with a great team try with forward runners such as Enever and Buttler making yards from half way, before Johnny Wilder came within inches of scoring before Michael Stollberg crashed over.
The following period of play was marred by consistantly poor refeering, frustrating both sides. At least he was crap to both sides, giving neither the advantage. Wests 10 Ben Damen looked to be having a shocker with his kick clearances, as the Tigers loose forwards, in particular Elijah Mowen targeting the kicker, with one pressured kick resulting in a turnover, and another strong ball carry from Buttler, resulting in Dom Fuller going over. Wests added a penalty shortly after making it 10-8.
From there it was all Easts, with David Skelton going over from a great set peice move and pin-point passing from Matt Brandon, saw the speedy 12 break a tackle and scoot down the right hand side to score in the corner. Skelton grabbed his second minutes later when the forward running of Buttler and Enever again lead to another try.
Whilst the pack was performing well as a unit around the field, scrums and line outs were a disaster for Easts. The scrum suffered without talented youngsters Bermingham and u20's loosehead Parraka, with a few tightheads conceeded. The line out didn't fair much better, with young hooker Ready not hitting the mark, combined with poor lifting and communications. Dom Fuller was also struggling without front foot set peice ball, as he had a rare off day with his frustrations clearly showing.
Contradictory to what I just said, the next try came from a suprise tighthead as, yep you guessed it, Jarrad Buttler made a dominant run down the blindside only to pull off a brilliant offload for Fuller to sprint over in the corner. The final score for Easts saw replacement winger Chris Mansell produce a brilliant individual effort to the delight of the crowd. Wests crashed over through Waita Setu late in the game for a consolation try.
For Easts Jarrad Buttler was once again the best player on the park, his ball running is the best I've seen in the competition this year, absolutely devastating, as is ability to offload in the tackle and get stuck into some good tight work. I know there has been a big discussion in the Reds 2013 thread on whether he is ready to fill one of the contract spots left by the departing Higginbotham, and to be honest, I haven't seen any player come close to his performances this year, would be my pick to gain a contract soon.
Others who impressed were David Skelton and Blake Enever. Easts depth also showed with 4th choice outside center Barnes having a very good run on debut, making some good tackles and very strong running. Losing Toby White, Joel Faulkner (Season) and Sean Cox (gone for the season) are massive blows, but Barnes looked up to it. Overall it was the best performance the Tigers have put together this season, but it still alot of room for improvement especially around the set peice.
For Wests, they were more competitive then the scoreboard indicated. In attack I thought they looked dangerous, especially outwide. In the forwards they struggled though, and what do you expect when your 6 and 8 spend 90% of the match standing on the wing. Their big number 4 Campbell was impressive for mine, as was Tom Middlin and Nigel Genia, who showed some class in being the instigator in many attacking raids. But for mine their best player was fullback Ian Aokuso who made many strong runs and his kicking game probably could of been used more as Damen struggled. Wests showed enough promise in this one, but were let down by their tight work in the end, the backs showed they had some class.
Easts 38 (Tries: D Fuller D Skelton 2 tries M Stolberg C Mansell. M Brandon 4 cons) d Wests 15 (Tries:W Setu B Lainchbury. B Lainchbury pen con)
Great day down at Bottomley, good crowd, good weather, entertaining game of rugby. Third Tier Rugby, GET INVOLVED!