Southern Inland- Round 11 Results
Men's
Ag College 25 d Reddies 17
Griffith 111 d Albury 3
Waratahs 47 d Wagga City 30
Women's
Waratahs 46 d Wagga City 21
Griffith 60 d Albury 5
Ag College 46 d Reddies 5
Wagga City were a player down from the 30 second mark of yesterday's clash and their undefeated run comes to an end - see Article below
Gone in 27 seconds: early red card sets tone for top-of-the-table clash
clash
Waratahs' Harry Tyson slips out of a tackle by Wagga City's Augustine Malatai at Conolly Rugby Complex on Saturday. Picture by Bernard Humphreys
Red card trouble found Wagga City again in another big clash with Waratahs.
However, this time they weren't able to defend it.
After
playing the entire second half of their last clash with their crosstown rivals with 14 players and still managing to come away with the win in round six, the prospect of playing all but 27 seconds down a man proved too big an obstacle.
Instead Waratahs became the first team to get the better Wagga City this season, taking a 47-30 victory at Conolly Rugby Complex on Saturday.
Winger Josh Daudravuni's day was over almost before it began after being dismissed after 27 seconds of play for a high tackle on Waratahs fullback Lachie Day.
It set the tone for Waratahs to move past their rivals and into top spot on the ladder.
However with a bye to come, and their rivals losing a player early, coach Nick McCarthy doesn't want to look too much into the win.
"It's great to get the result, but it's probably hard to take much out of it considering City lost a player to a red card 30 seconds into the game," McCarthy said.
"We were playing against an extra guy for the whole game so it's obviously good to win the game, and great for our progress forward but we won't take too much out of it.
"We're obviously on top now, but it doesn't mean much when we have a bye coming and City still have three games.
"From here we just have to keep building, keep fixing the errors in our game and discipline today when we had ascendancy was pretty lacking.
"We gave a lot of piggyback penalties away and when City gets some good football they are very difficult to stop. We invited them into our own half a lot and a good side like that you can't give chances to so we've got plenty to fix but there's a lot of good signs too.
"We used the ball well on attack, created some good opportunities, our scrum and our line out were both really good so we'll bank that win, learn a bit from it and move on to the next few weeks."
Day recovered from the high shot to finish with 27 points for the clash with a try, five conversions from as many attempts and four penalty goals.
Tom Hallam led the way for Waratahs with their captain crossing for a double and the halfback's ability to move the ball quickly and make the right choices helped them gain an advantage.
Daudravuni will front the Southern Inland judiciary this week after his red card.
It comes after Boiled Lollies had forward Rosivela Nagatarogo's season ended on Wednesday night after being
given a nine-game suspension.
Waratahs winger Harry Hayes will also head to the judiciary after having his case adjourned while Griffith's Feleti Faigafa will also need to appear after seeing red after two yellow cards in the big win over Albury.
The Blacks moved back into second with a 111-3 victory over their winless rivals at Exies Oval on Saturday.
Tuukalikali Vaipulu scored a hat-trick in the big.
Meanwhile, Ag College scored a crucial win over crosstown rivals Reddies to keep their finals hopes alive.
Aggies came from behind in the second half to take a 35-17 win at Beres Ellwood Oval on Saturday.
However the bonus-point win still has them six points outside the top four ahead of a crucial clash with Tumut at Beres Ellwood Oval on Saturday.
Not only do Aggies need to down the Bulls, who now occupy fourth after the bye, but still need other results to go their way with a clash against Wagga City ahead.
