Round "22" opened on Friday night with Easts, fresh from their victory over Redcliffe hosting Centenary. Easts began well and had a number of scoring opportunities early, only to be thwarted by desperate Centenary defence. However mistakes inside their own quarter proved costly for the Tigers and three of these saw tries to the Panthers giving them a 14-0 half-time cushion. The second half was all Centenary and a point-a-minute performance saw them run out 44-0 winners, with Brisbane centre Tim McIlwain contributing 28 of these from 4 tries and 6 goals.
The early Saturday game saw the Dolphins travel to Usher Park to take on Slacks Creek. Slacks Creek competed well but in the end were no match for the Dolphins, hungry for victory after their surprise loss to Easts the previous week, with Redcliffe eventually running out 44-10 winners. The other Saturday game was a tale of two halves with the visiting Souths side getting away to a handy 24-10 half-time lead against Logan Brothers. The break proved to be the tonic that the brethren needed and they came back a different team rattling up 36 points without reply. Souths scored a consolation try, but by then it was "too little, too late" with Logan Brothers winning 46-30 and knocking Souths out of the five.
The weather was perfect for the Chairman's Trophy match at Emerson Park, and this was matched by Redland's first half performance!!! They just jumped too well for a shell-shocked Arana team, and if anything the Parakeets 18-0 halftime lead was flattering to the Panthers, who were missing a lot of tackles. Arana were shaken out of their reverie at half-time and fought their way back into the match with tries to Phippsy and Alex Tallon and a conversion by Luke bringing them back within 8 points midway through the second stanza. A dropped ball when they were mounting a further attacking raid proved critical however, with Redlands capitalising with a try that snuffed out the Arana challenge. A further try to Redlands sealed their 26-10 victory.
For Arana, Matt H was non-stop in attack and defence well backed up by Rohan, Brent and Josey. Despite illness, James tried hard, and Brendan was solid in attack and defence. In the backs, Alex F continued his good form with Alex T and Josh solid. Dean was non-stop filling in at halfback when Nash was too ill to continue and topped the backs' tackle count with 17. Luke was very safe under the high ball.
Redlands representative and finals experience shone through and Mosa (who won the official Man of the Match award), Brian and Jay were outstanding in the forwards. Nathan had his usual entertaining battle with Brendan at hooker. The halves for Redlands were superb, with Matt S causing the Arana defence all sorts of problems and Trent (who filled in for an ill Ben at halfback) very dangerous. Dominic also had a great game in his return from injury.
Redlands certainly deserved their win, in what was an entertaining game, played in good spirit. Arana will be buoyed by their second half fightback and the "final" experience will be valuable for them later in the year.
By the minute:
8th min: Redlands Try - Redlands 4-0
14th min: Redlands Try/Goal - Redlands 10-0
19th min: Redlands Try - Redlands 14-0
27th min: Redlands Try - Redlands 18-0 (Half-Time)
38th min: James Phipps Try - Redlands 18-4
41st min: Alex Tallon Try; Luke Corley Conv - Redlands 18-10
49th min: Redlands Try - Redlands 22-10
52nd min: Redlands Try - Redlands 26-10 (Full-Time)
Other Arana Chairman's Trophy's results:
U15 N/S: Souths 36 def Arana 30
U16C: Arana 22 def Burpengary 18
U17B: Arana 46 def Redcliffe 0
Open 2N: Arana 33 def Pine Rivers 20
The weekend's results see Arana on 20 retain the competition lead, but now by only 2 points over Redlands. Centenary, Redcliffe and Logan Bros are in equal third a further 2 points back. Souths have dropped a win out of the five, but are still 6 points clear of Easts and 8 points clear of Slacks Creek.
Brad T
9/6/2002
