A reduced wrap this week with the Webmaster in Sydney enjoying the National U15 Championships!!
A depleted Arana side headed to Francis Rd for the only Friday night match of the round, and met some "spirited" resistance from the Hornets. Holy Spirit are continuing to compete hard but lack one or two strike players to put points on the board, whilst the Panthers made the most of limited opportunities to lead 12-0 at the break. The second half was a similar story with the visitors adding two more tries to a single from the home side resulting in a final scoreline of 24-4. Unfortunately Dean Bannerman broke his arm during the second half and will be out for at least 6 weeks. Thanks to Shaun Maloney who came up from the 14s to help out and was rewarded with a good try.
The early Sunday game saw a similarly depleted Centenary side host Logan Brothers at Ipswich Road, and despite scoring first the Panthers were no match for the big Logan side with the visitors storming away to win 52-10.
The second Sunday fixture looked to be going as expected when Redcliffe jumped away to an early 16-0 lead against Easts at Dolphin Oval, however the Tigers were not prepared to lie down and clawed their way back to 16-14 at half time. The Dolphins scored early in the second half to push the margin out to 8 points, but despite being reduced to 12 men for most of the second half, Easts managed to score 2 late tries to come home surprise 24-22 winners., and give a real boost to their semi-final aspirations.
The final Sunday game was always going to be a tough task for Redlands minus three state players and travelling to Brandon Park where Souths have been undefeated this year, and were gunnig for 7 wins on the trot. Redlands looked to have the Magpies measure at the break however leading 16-4, but a devastating second half effort by the home side saw them run out 26-16 and snuff out Redlands undefeated season.
The weekends results see Redlands (26) lead at the top reduced to 2 points, from Arana and Souths on 24. There is then 4 points back to Logan Bros on 18 and now 6 back to Redcliffe on 14 in 5th place. By virtue of the bye, Norths move to 10 leapfrogging Centenary on 9. Outside the top 7 are Easts on 8 and Holy Spirit on 5.
Brad T
29/6/2003
