Joeys 42 — Kings 19
by “Lee Grant”
Kings were coming off a strong win against Shore last week whereas Joeys had a up and down loss to Newington.
Both teams had players missing because of in jury but the Joeys’ replacements were more effective than that of the visitors, in a game strewn with errors.
The scoring
Joeys looked sharp after the kick-off and at five minutes Joeys’ flyhalf, Andrew Deegan pounced on a loose ball, drew defenders and passed to his right-winger, Tim McCutcheon, who scored in the corner. Deegan kicked a fine conversion for Joeys’ to lead 7-0.
Kings were able to play in Joeys’ territory in the next ten minutes after being awarded several penalties but they could not score points.
After some scrappy play Kings fumbled a kick through and the poor fellow who retrieved it was monstered by Joeys’ 13. Kurtis Bennett, coming of a long run. Soon after too many Kings’ defenders were attracted by a routine move after a Joeys’ scrum in the Kings’ 22. McCutcheon crossed for his second try, but it really belonged to Bennett. Deegan’s conversion went over and Joeys led 14-0 at 20 minutes.
Five minutes later Joeys 11. Latrell Robinson scored one of the best individual tries of the season. After getting the ball in his own 22 from 12. William McDonnell, he ran down the touch-line with little room to operate in and just eluded fullback James Kane and 10. Corey Tulloch, who could not get to him. Another Deegan conversion made the score 21-0 at 26 minutes.
Kings matched up poorly six minutes later when Bennett ran from near halfway and, with McCutcheon outside him, was able to dummy and wrong-foot Kane to score under the posts. With three minutes to half-time the score was 28-0.
Kings looked beaten already but they were made of sterner stuff. After the restart they had a couple of raids against the Joey’s goal-line, and playing with advantage, the ball was tapped and 14. Tom Bucknell scored. Joeys led 28-7 at half-time.
There was some poor play after oranges as the ball seemed to change hands in the third quarter almost by turn, but at about 15 minutes Joeys’ lock Jono Hardy hared up the park. Fullback Brodie Bailey got the pop-pass when Hardy was grounded, but was pulled down near the posts. Soon Joeys got scrum-ball and 5. Linden Deans went over after a couple of phases. The Deegan conversion made the score 35-7.
In the last seven minutes the defenders were tired and three tries were scored. Kings were short on the blindside and 7. Nicholas Pennisi ran around the visitors for the last Joeys’ pie. Then Kings ran in two tries: 13. Charlie Friend scored from a scrum and Kings’ best player, 5. George Lehmann, went over from a maul after a tap penalty kick close to the Joeys’ line.
The teams
Joeys had four forwards from their pack missing but the replacements played admirably as did new fullback, Brodie Bailey, who was called into the side last week. The team turned the ball over too many times, sometimes unforced, but to balance that they scored six tries with the ball they kept, and did not leave too many of the park.
Kings also had several players absent this week and the leadership of skipper Jack McCalman, who had an injured shoulder, was sorely missed. They finished strongly as they did last week against Shore, but the damage was done in the first 25 minutes. They also lacked fire-power in their backline.
The Players
In the absence of an exact tally of who made errors in the game my votes go to:
Joeys — 3. William McDonnell, 2. Andrew Deegan, 1. Patrick O’Brien.
12. McDonnell has improved a lot this year and is combing well with midfield partner 13. Kurtis Bennett, another improver. [Also wingers Robinson and McCutcheon are finishing brilliantly.] Deegan has a rich vein of form and his goal kicking is getting sharp: he kicked all six conversions, including two from near touch.
Workhorse Patrick O’Brien played no.8 today after wearing the 6. and 7. jersey in earlier rounds, and was never far from the ball. Apart from his new role of throwing the ball to the lineout as hooker, skipper Matt Sandell also made several hard runs through traffic as he did last week at Stanmore.
Kings — 3. George Lehmann, 2. David Ballantyne, 1. Corey Tulloch.
All three played well in a cause that was lost early.
Wrap-up
Joeys’ season will be defined next week playing against Scots. To have any chance against the undefeated leaders, they cannot clock off as they did in the second half against Newington, and against Kings at the end of the game.
After four rounds Kings look destined to finish near the bottom of the competition but there are still six rounds remaining and a lot can happen in that time.
Scoring
[one_half last=”no”]Joeys — 42
Tries: Tim McCutcheon (2), Latrell Robinson, Kurtis Bennett, Linden Deans, Nicholas Pennisi
Conversions: Andrew Deegan (6)
[/one_half]
[one_half last=”yes”]Kings — 19
Tries: Tom Bucknell, Charlie Friend, George Lehmann
Conversions: James Kane (2)
Referee: Mr. James Scholten[/one_half]
Other Matches
2nd XV – SJC 38 – Kings 5
16As — SJC 25 – Kings 6
See Page 3 for a match report on Newington v Scots by “Jasdec”
