This promised to be a great round of football with all games being "local derbies" and we were not disappointed. Please note I would always be happy to receive detailed game reports from people from the other teams, and will add to the wrap each week if you email them to me at oz_bat@hotmail.com!
Arana knew that they would have to fight hard to maintain their proud home record against the other Panthers, Centenary, and this task was made even harder with the loss of Rohan, Rob and Tom on the eve of the match, and the reduction of Brendan to a "cameo" role due to his surgery during the week. The team could hardly have started better though, with Alex T following a long distance kick from Geoff at the end of the first set of the match to dive through a pack of Centenary players to score. From this point however the match was an extraordinarily tight affair, with both teams throwing everything at their opponents but being repelled by solid defence. During the next 25 minutes theo only try came from a Centenary scrum win against the feed when Jamie Williams scored in a replica of a try he scored in similar circumstances against Redcliffe. The game seemed certain to go into half-time locked at 4 all, but an Arana mistake 50 seconds before the break gave Centenary another chance with their hooker diving from dummy half over the top of a dazed Mitchell Carr to score in the corner. Tim rubbed salt into the wound and the already tired Arana team trudged off 6 points behind. The second half began as most of the first had been played, with solid defence nullifying the attacking raids of both sides, but it was the home side who found thee first crack when a wide passing move outflanked the Centenary defence with Mitchell scoring in the corner to narrow the gap to 2, with eighteen minutes remaining. For the next ten minutes the match turned Centenary's way, when after a great attacking run by their fullback Joe, the visitors pinned Arana in their half through solid defence and repeat sets through line dropouts. Finally a Centenary mistake allowed Arana a sniff of a chance, and chancing their arm on the fifth tackle, Aran threw the ball wide, for Matt, who had another non-stop game, to score in the corner, giving an Arana a 12-10 lead, which they held for the remaining 7 minutes of the match despite Centenary mounting a last minute raid as they did against the Dolphins last week, only this time they were thwarted when a penalty kick failed to find touch, much to the relief of the exhausted home side. All thirteen (and a bit - Brendan!) players who took the field for Arana are to be congratulated on this effort as many picked up injuries during the match that would normaly have seen them leave the field, and by the end many were playing in unfamiliar positions as Jamie juggled them around. The front row of Tim, Dean and Brent all did 16 or more tackles, with Tim adding 15 hit-ups to his defensive work in a stand-out performance. Rodger had a great game in the backs, tackling well a making a couple of breaks, and the halves Nash and Geoff tackled themselves to a standstill. For Centenary, Nick Wright put in a whole-hearted performace, and it's also good to see Matt Marshall back on the paddock.
By the minute:
1st min: Alex T try; Arana 4-0 (followed through kick from Geoff)
7th min: Centenary try; 4-4 (halfback scores from scrum win against feed 20m out)
30th min: Centenary try/conv; Centenary 10-4 (hooker scores from dummy half, after 3 tackles close to line)
FIRST HALF STATS: Penalties: 1-1; Completions: Arana 10/17 (58.8%); Centenary 10/16 (62.5%)
42nd min: Mitchell try; Centenary 10-8 (Ball swung wide left after getting close to line on right)
52nd min: Matt try; Arana 12-10 (Try in left corner after running on 5th tackle)
SECOND HALF STATS: Penalties: 2-2; Completions: Arana 9/13 (69.2%); Centenary 5/12 (41.7%)
TOTAL STATS: Penalties: 3-3; Completions: Arana 19/30 (63.3%); Centenary 15/28 (53.6%)
Redcliffe hosted Norths at Dolphin Oval in what was expected to be a great game, and the crowd were not disappointed, with Redcliffe keen to atone for their last minute loss last week, and the Devils wanting to keep their 2004 winning streak in tack. This truly turned out to be a memorable match, with some great attacking football on display, and eventually 11 tries being scored. The home side managed 6 of these but unfortunately could only manage 1 goal. and with Norths knocking over 5/6, the visitors managed a 30-26 victory. The first half was a see-sawing affair with Norths scoring first only to see Redcliffe score two tries themselves to take a two point lead. Two more converted tries to Norths saw them 10 points clear, but the Dolphins struck back just before the break to go in trailling by 6, despite both sides having scored 3 tries. Norths began much the better in the second half, skipping away to a 16 point lead before Redcliffe finally regained some form and narrowed the gap to 6. Despite losing Isaac, a penalty goal to Norths proved critical to Norths in the closing stages extending their margin to 8, and despite a late Redcliffe try, the Devils held on to set up a "top-of-the-table" clash with Arana next week.
Easts were keen to maintain their from for a full 60 minutes against Springwood in the battle of the Tigers at Scott Park, and were well in the game at halftime, trailling by only 8 points, 14-6. Unfortunately the second half proved to be a disaster for them, with the Springwood side really putiing it together for the first time this season to pile on 36 unanswered points in the second stanza to run out 50-6 winners and send a message to the competition that they are not going to give up their premiership without a fight!
The final game of the weekend saw Souths defending their proud Brandon Park record against a spirited Logan Bros side, with both keen to open their account for the season after 2 disappoiting losses. Logan Bros however proved too much of a handful for the home side and ran out comfortable 48-10 winners, although the scoreline was not a true indication of the effort put in by Souths.
Another interesting round, and it has a set-up a clash between the only 2 undefeated teams, Arana and Norths, next week. See you around the grounds!!
Brad T
28/3/2004
