Joeys jumped out of the blocks at Hunters Hill yesterday and left a sluggish Riverview behind at the start. And they served notice to all the other teams that they were going for gold.
Joeys 29 – Riverview 17
The scoring
Sure, you may look at the scorecard and conclude that since Riverview notched up three tries to two, they must have been better – but you had to be there. You had to see that when Joeys got into prime real estate the View lads didn’t let them play rugby and got pinged for their troubles. You would have noticed also that the Joeys’ fullback Kay kicked five penalties, and missed a couple of others.
After the second penalty, Joeys fluffed a restart and View got the drop on them. No. 8 Whiteley put on a set move and dished the pill inside, then it went back wide to 11. Freeman running along touch. Nice try. 6-5 at 15 minutes.
The Joeys 14. Wilde made a nice break and was too fast for defenders to stop him scoring, but 10. Lyons of View responded not long after and stepped for a View try. Just before oranges, a Joeys lad lost the ball over the line after 1. Robertson had made a break; so it was 16-12 at half time. About right.
When there was more View bad discipline after the break, the ref gave them a warning. Kay kicked the goal and soon there was neat set move from a Joeys scrum and Wilde went over again. There wasn’t any scoring for about 15 minutes after that but Joeys were playing the rugby.
With 10 minutes to go, 12-29 down and with the game virtually lost, Riverview started to hit their straps driven by skipper Whiteley. Then it was Joeys who became cynical. 4. Barlett got a card and Whiteley scored a try, but it was too late.
Riverview
View lost by only 12 points but they looked worse than that. Were it not for skipper Whiteley, the best player on the park, the young side could have been embarrassed. He was doing everything and was a swan amongst the ducks: linking with the backs, doing the cover tackles, the Zinzan sleight of hand and the SBW offload. He probably washed the jerseys too.
There was not a lot of clean ball for the backs and definitely not from the scrum as 9. Kennedy got ball and either 6. Goldie or 7. Murphy of Joeys at the same time.
11. Freeman looks like a handy player. He scored a nice try and knows where to be and what to do – and he is in Year 10 and a goal-kicker too. Watch this space on young Bill. 15. Robertson had some smart runs and good long kicks for space or touch.
Riverview will know that they will have to pick themselves up next week. They have to start the season again, getting the basics right against Grammar, then consolidating against Scots and a feisty Shore team before finishing with home games against Kings and Newington.
Joeys
1. Robertson, 2. Carolan and 3. Sandell were exceptional again in the scrum, in the tight and sometimes on the break. If there is a better front row in an Oz school I would like to see it. The Three Musketeers of the backrow, including 8. O’Donahue (returning from injury), swarmed all day.
But if one feature of the forwards that stood out it was their playing as pack: as in nature, often savage and always looking for the weak point of prey – and to the death. They mowed down power Oz Schools runners 4. Rorke and 6. Dempsey after a few steps time after time, and the brilliant Whitely had to run around them.
However, the ball work of the backs was not that flash: too often the long pass bounced or had to be reached up for. Possession after possession fizzled out. Scrummie Curtin threw some of these passes, but my word: in mitigation he was very slippery and tough to stop on the snipe.
12. Pay has settled in nicely in the Ones team. For the second week the pocket rocket was hard to handle. 15. Kay liked his new position – his third or fourth this year — and after a shaky start his goal-kicking was good as was his kicking from hand.
Joeys emerged from the trials in good shape: their scrums were always good but the lineouts are sharper since 5. Schwager returned from injury last week and 4. Barlett was elevated to the Ones. Schwager’s impact in the tight stuff was felt also; literally. Their kicking from hand improved and their backs marked up better.
Joeys had a good game plan that included stopping the three View elite ball runners in the pack – well, stopping two out of three wasn’t bad — running the bigger View fellows into the ground and being stronger over the ball. With the set piece working well, it was enough.
Well done, Joeys – ‘Walk On’.
St. Joseph’s College – 27 – Tries: J. Wilde (2). Conversions: J. Kay (2). Penalties: Kay (5).
St. Ignatius College –12 – Tries: W. Freeman (2), M. Whiteley. Conversions: Freeman
Referee: Mr R. Goswell.
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