Joeys v Shore
by “Lee Grant”
The Joeys’ road runners were glad to have a dry track at home for the visit of Shore and ran the ball at every opportunity.
Joeys were without NSW Schools’ winger Blaise Barnes and Australian Schools’ lock Nathan Gittoes but the replacements performed admirably, even though players were shifted around.
First half
After some earlier errors in promising situations, but also some dominant scrummaging, Joeys’ 7 Lachlan Simpson got the ball to ringmaster 13 Thomas Wright. When he wrong-footed defenders the ball went wide to 11 Edward King who scored in the eighth minute. Shore was too easily out-flanked and there was another attacker wider out as well.
Shore settled down but although they blew a scoring chance, at least they were in the right place to kick a penalty goal under advantage. Joeys 5-3 after 18 minutes.
Joeys attacked from the restart and parked in the Shore 22 to hammer the Shore line. 5 Rory Suttor stripped the ball to save a try for Shore, but they couldn’t clear far. When Joeys took a lineout penalty option Shore were caught out again; Wright attracted two defenders and 15 Tim Clements scored after contact with his third tackler.
It was poor defence and Joeys led 10-3 after 22 minutes.
15 Lachie Patrick saved a certain try with a tackle which drew cheers from the Shore boys in the crowd, but six minutes before the break Wright put on another magic show of deception for Joeys. From his own half he beat six tacklers and when felled near the Shore line, the ball went to 8 Tom Horton, who dished it to 6 Dom McGrath for the try.
Shore finished the first half strongly and after they tried an unsuccessful lineout drive following a penalty option, they were successful with a penalty goal.
Joeys created more chances and promising situations than indicated by only three unconverted tries for the half. Although Shore scrambled well in parts, some sloppy execution by the home team was the main limiting factor.
Half-time score: Joeys 15 – Shore 6
Second half
The visitors started well but Joeys fluked a lineout throw when they cleared from their 22. They launched an attack from it and after Wright and McGrath handled, Horton scored in the opposite corner. A fine conversion by 9 Will Wennerbom increased Joeys’ lead to 22-6, ten minutes after the break.
Then Wright wrong-footed Shore again and accelerated impressively to score between the sticks untouched.
Shore looked down and out but they struck back when Joeys couldn’t hold onto the ball in their 22 and LHP Luke Edwards got the first Shore try 15 minutes into the half. Joeys 29 – Shore 13.
Yirrbri Jaffer-Williams returned serve for Joeys after Simpson made a telling break up the middle. Joeys 34-13.
Then after several Joe Boys handled, 10 Nicholas Wilkinson passed out to Horton who got his second try in the same spot he got his first. It was poor defence by Shore who were on the back foot for the whole movement. Joeys led 39-13 with eight minutes remaining.
To their credit Shore were the better team for the rest of the game and could have scored a few times but did so just once when hooker and skipper Fergus Bragg burst over in the last play of the game.
Final score: Joeys 39 – Shore 18.
The players
Shore
3 points – Versatile hooker and skipper Fergus Bragg was never far from the action leading his men.
2 points – Scrummie Will Haskins cleared the ball admirably even in times of adversity.
1 point – The backs didn’t have much joy with the ball but 12 Max Sinclair and 13 Nathan Corbett split a point for straightening the attack especially in the first half.
Joeys
3 points – 13 Thomas Wright was the main threat again as he forced defenders to watch him. His wide passing was also a feature.
2 points – 7 Lachlan Simpson made some telling runs as did his other flanker Dom McGrath.
1 point – 4 Will O’Connell lifted in the absence of Gittoes, with punishing tackles and taking some difficult balls in the lineout.
Special mention to Australian Schools’ hooker Tom Horton who played no. 8 as though the manor born—after appearing as THP in the last couple of GPS games.
Wrap-up
Shore had several episodes of back-foot defence in the second half which they couldn’t correct in time, and this allowed Joeys to get on a roll too often. The also lacked star players who could make a difference at critical moments.
Joeys under-achieved in the first half when they left tries on the park but they made up for it in the second when the linking between forwards and backs bewildered the defenders several times.
Scoring
Joeys 39 (T. Horton 2, E. King, T. Clements, D. McGrath, T. Wright, Y. Jaffer-Williams tries; W. Wennerbom 2 cons) def. Shore 18 (L. Edwards, F. Bragg tries; M. Sinclair 2 pens, con)
Other scores:
2nd XV – Joeys 26 – Shore 24 (a cracking match)
3rd XV – Joeys 30 – Scots 0
16A – Joeys 19 – Shore 0
Photos of Joeys v Shore by Lee Grant
