Newington v Shore
by “Gary Owen III”
Round 4 at Stanmore saw the undefeated competition leaders Newington meet the boys from Shore. The Johnson Oval looked in good condition – in fact pristine, compared to the adjacent Old Boys fields which resembled the Wagga Wagga cattle yards on a sale day.
A few changes in the program – Newington had Campbell Clifford out, Christian Poidevin in, at no. 7. Shore had Jake Hedge out; Fergus Bragg moved to No. 2 and Ben Kennedy to No.6.
First half
Following an exciting 2nd XV game which went down to the wire with Newington taking a 18-17 victory, the crowd were ready for action. But someone forgot to tell Shore the game had started!
After only about 90 seconds Newington set up an attacking raid inside the Shore half. Then their No. 12 Cameron Murray sliced through the Shore centre pairing almost untouched and scored out wide to open the Newington account. No. 10 Bayley Kuenzle added the extras 7-0.
The clock hadn’t done much more ticking before New was on the attack again. A deft Murray grubber got in behind the defence and bounced up for No. 13 Simon Kennewell to score next to the posts. 14-0.
From the restart the ball went through maybe one phase before Kennewell shrugged off would-be tacklers to charge straight up the centre making a commanding break. He drew the cover defence and put Murray over for his second try in ten minutes. The conversion pulled wide and after about twelve minutes it looked ugly for the boys from Northbridge, down 0-19.
Newington were dominating both possession and territory, but then Shore had one of their better parts of the game. Good lead-up work had No. 10 Oli Cowley cut through to score. No. 12 Max Sinclair converted and 19-7 seemed more respectable for the Shore boys considering their start.
But New bounced back immediately from the restart with fullback Sepesa Loga-Tarogi joining the line to create the overlap, before offloading to No. 11 Tyrone Taukamo, who barged over four defenders to score in the corner. The extras were added and Newington extended their lead to 26-7.
As halftime neared the Newington juggernaut kept the pressure on and through some strong forwards’ play they rumbled up the field. Tom Piroddi broke though the central defence of the Shore backline before he popped a nice ball to his locking partner Charlie Mannix, who touched down near the posts.
Half-time score: The conversion made the score Newington 33 – Shore 7.
Newington’s dominance was such that the possession statistics must have been about 80% in their favour. The Shore boys were forced to make a lot of tackles and their back three did not touch the ball once in the first half. New’s centres Murray and Kennewell were having a field day, but Kennewell did not return for the second half.
Second half
The Shore coaches must have channelled their best rousing William Wallace speech at half-time as the game took a positive turn for the Shore boys after the break. After three minutes Newington were down to 14 men as replacement Simonsson was sent to the bin for a dangerous tackle. A Shore penalty kick and a bit of trickery from the lineout had the ball returned to hooker Fergus Bragg and he scampered over to claim first points in the second half. There were no extras and New lead 33-12.
Shore then had a good period of play and a couple of movements could have yielded points but for a dropped pass or a knock-on.
But a scrum 15 metres from his own line saw Murray stand up his opposite and make a huge break for Newington, charging down the field. Simonsson received an offload, and though nabbed, was able to move the ball to Gilfedder, who scored out wide for a scoreline of 38-12.
Then deja-vu. New won a lineout inside their own half and Murray made another bust up middle, but this time the offload was spilt.
From here both teams had some fine moments of play without the score changing. Shore were moving the ball around and, unlike in the first half, their back three were making some ground with the ball in hand.
With ten minutes remaining Newington were down to 14 men again, as Poidevin was given a rest for a dangerous tackle. But they still attacked and after several raids they were rewarded when fullback Sepesa did his best Sonny Bill impersonation popping a one handed offload (whilst getting tackled) to Taukamo who took the fullback with him over the line to bag his second pie. No extras: 43-12 to New.
Shore still didn’t shirk and in some of their best attack a long ball from Cowley allowed fullback Lachie Patrick to make a nice break of his own. More Shore attack finally had halfback Will Haskins pop a ball down the blindside to left wing Ed Gregory who scored in the corner. No extras – game over.
Final score: Newington 43 – Shore 17.
The players
Newington – Cameron Murray was the standout – he made numerous breaks and set up all the early points in a classy display. His centre partner Simon Kenewell was just as dynamic and deserves accolades as well. The forwards were all imposing with hooker Teu Atiola and prop Opeti Helu catching my eye with some strong runs.
Shore – Ryan Haskard had some strong runs and solid defence. Whilst the usual suspects of James Doyle and Fergus Bragg played to the high level we have come to expect. In the backs Lachie Patrick looked sharp in attack once the ball went wide in the second half.
The wrap-up
Shore scored ten points after the break, as did Newington. Shore need to bottle their second half performance and replicate it because it was a much-improved display from them.
Newington will be happy with their first half but will need to improve their second half performances as they seem to have relaxed at halftime in some of their fixtures this year.
Scoring
Newington 43 (C.Murray 2, T.Taukamo 2, S.Kennewell, C.Mannix, S.Gilfedder tries; B.Kuenzle 4 con) bt. Shore 17 (O.Cowley, F.Bragg, E.Gregory tries; M.Sinclair con.)
Photos of Newington v Shore supplied – thank you.
See 30 minute video highlights in “Discussion” below – courtesy of “sidesteppa”
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