GPS Round 2

Here is an informal report from Bryron Williamson – thank you Byron.

Shore v Riverview

by “Bryon Williamson”

Watching the game at Northbridge yesterday had me on the edge of my seat for the majority of the game; it had some great running rugby and big hits throughout.

An injury early to View No. 8 Gehrig led to the replacement No. 20 being sin-binned for what the referee labelled as “talking back”, would love to know what he said.

The outside backs for View dominated for the entire game, with all their tries coming down the right wing, something that Shore will have to address. Even with the speed that Shore fullback Rixon has, his defensive ability was challenged, and furthermore I thought he was fortunate not to be sin-binned for dangerous play.

However, Shore stuck around in the first half, with some nifty tries of their own.

Half-time score: Rvierview 10 – Shore 5

As the game wore on, tension built and despite suffering from clear amounts of pain to his shoulder, No. 10 Jack McGregor led from the front with his kicks downfield, and his overall decision-making, including a try of his own in the corner. The game seemed all but over

But as Shore always seem to do against Riverview, they came back again and all of a sudden the deficit was only five points (17-22) with three minutes remaining.

A scrum five metres out on the last play of the day was Shore’s last chance.  With a deafening silence over Northbridge, the Shore No.10 Cowley passed the ball to 12 Sinclair and then immediately wrapped around for the return pass .  It was a play that they had used earlier and Riverview 15 Conor Hurley anticipated it by intercepting the pass and kicking the ball out for the end of play.

From my vantage point, there was a decent sized hole and had Shore held onto the ball they had a good chance of scoring a try.

Full-time score:  Riverview 22 – Shore 17.

Player points:

Riverview
3 – Mete – proved a constant threat down the right wing in scoring two and assisting on another.
2 – Fenn  – his hard ball running and offloading was hard for Shore to contain; being in Year 11, we’ll see plenty more of him .
1 – McGregor – still not back to his Aus Schoolboy form but led from the front and made timely decisions that other players can’t make.

Shore
3 – Cowley –  despite constant pressure from the View backline in attack he made some good passes and led well.
2 – Rixon – despite defensive lapses he had some shining moments in attack; has a good boot on him and once he gets going, his hard to track down.
1 – Doyle – led the forwards well in the line outs.

Here’s to a great season to come, probably the most wide open I’ve seen in a while. Can’t wait till next term.

Scoring

Riverview 22 (D. Mete 2, W. Terry, J. McGregor tries; J. McGregor con) bt. Shore 17 (L. Rixon, L. Patrick, W. Haskins tries; M. Sinclair con).

Kings v Newington

Here are a few remarks from a spectator at Kings – “Quick Hands”

It was and odd game up at Kings today.

Newington led 36-7 at half time. Kings competed well, but New were just a bit stronger in the forwards and a bit quicker in the backs.

There was no score in the second half as the referee decided to give his whistle a nice old workout.

Even with a mountainous penalty count in their favour, Kings couldn’t close the gap. After a great first half from both sides, it was a real let down.

Scoring

Newington 36 (C. Murray 2, C. Mannix, N. Lawson, S. Gilfedder, S, Kennewell tries;  T. Taukamo 3 cons) def. Kings 7 (F. Ryan try, C. Orpen con)

Photos by Lee Grant unless noted otherwise

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