Three games on Friday night to open this round, with the early game matching the leaders Redlands with third place Centenary, with the 2 teams having shared the honours in the earlier rounds. Centenary were very disjointed in the night and the game was effectively over at halftime with Redlands leading 20-0. To Centenary's credit they lifted in the second half but it was a case of too little, too late and the Parakeets ran out convincing 30-6 victors, with lock Jay picking up 4 tries.
In the 8.15 game Arana hosted a Souths side which had pushed Redlands so hard the previous Sunday. Souths were not the same team however and really struggled against an Arana team that completed 90% of its sets in an impressive performance. Arana skipped away to a 20-0 lead in as many minutes and never looked threatened, finally running out 58-16 victors with Alex T racking up 28 points from 4 tries and 6 goals. Rob also picked up a hat-trick and Mitchell scored his first points for the season with a fine try and the wobbliest sideline conversion ever seen. Rohan topped the tackle count to show he is back to his best and Brent and Matt shared the top hit-ups in non-stop performances. Only downside were the accidental head knocks received by Zac and Tim which forced them from the field.
By the minute:
3rd min: Arana try; Arana 4-0
9th min: Arana try; Arana 8-0
14th min: Arana try/conv; Arana 14-0
18th min: Arana try/conv; Arana 20-0
25th min: Souths try; Arana 20-4
29th min: Arana try/conv; Arana 26-4 (HT)
32nd min: Arana try/conv; Arana 32-4
37th min: Souths try/conv; Arana 32-10
43rd min: Arana try/conv: Arana 38-10
47th min: Arana try/conv; Arana 44-10
51st min: Arana try; Arana 48-10
54th min: Souths try/conv; Arana 48-16
57th min: Arana try/conv; Arana 54-16
59th min: Arana try; Arana 58-16 (FT)
In the late game, Slacks Ck broke their duck against the current crop of 14A teams with a nail-biting 18-16 win over Easts. Slacks Ck led 8-0 early, reflecting their good form of the previous two weeks, but relaxed just before the break to allow the Tigers back into the match, two quick converted tries seeing Easts take a 12-8 halftime lead. A try apiece in the first 28 mins of the second half saw Easts clinging to a 16-12 lead with two minutes remaining. A dropped ball by Slacks seemed to have cost them the match, but they forced an error from the Tigers and with their last use of the ball, Trent was put through a gap to tie up the scores. The conversion was good with time up and Slacks had sneaked home by 2 points, 18-16.
The Sunday game saw Redcliffe travel to Logan with a chance to pull 2 points clear of Souths in the battle for 5th spot. Logan Bros came out with all guns blazing to dash away to a 14-0 lead after only 12 minutes, and it was always going to be hard going for the Dolphins from there. To the visitors credit however they steadied and managed a try of their own to centre Jed in the 22nd minute to get back within 10. Right on half-time however, Logan 5/8 Vaughan, who was causing Redcliffe all sorts of troubles with his short kicks, regathered a neat chip to score under the posts and send his team to the break leading 20-4. Redcliffe had plenty of chances to score in the first 15 minutes of the second half, but a combination of tough Logan defence and poor handling saw the opportunities wasted, and in fact Logan was the only team to score in this period to have the match well in hand at 26-4 half way through the second half. Redcliffe finally managed a try in the 46th minute to bring it back to 26-10 but this was to be as close as they would get, with a great try by Matt S from a neat scrum move driving the final nail in the coffin 2 minutes from full-time. Redcliffe score a consolation try right on the bell to bring the final score to 32-14.
With three games remaining Redlands are on top alone on 32 points, followed by Arana on 31 and Centenary on 28, with Logan Bros on 27 breathing down their neck in the battle for the critical third spot. Souths and Redcliffe remain stuck on 21 in a titanic struggle for the final semi-final spot. Easts on 10 and Slacks Ck on 6 are out of semi-final contention, but will still be looking to cause an upset or two in the run to the finals.
Brad T
11/8/2002
