What a great round of football, that certainly served to demonstrate what a great comp we have on our hands!!
Arana travelled to Bishop Park to take on the only other undefeated team in the competition, Norths, in what was expected to be a tough clash. Unfortunately the start of the game was delayed by over an hour due to an injury sustained by a player in the previous game. The players were no doubt impacted by this, but still put together a great first half of football, with bone-jarring defence a feature. Both teams had several try-scoring opportunities, but great last-ditch defence, including one memorable tackle by Luke Corley on the spectacular U15 player Josh Costello. In fact it was Josh who scored the only try of the first half, an individual effort from a scrum 40 metres out after 25 minutes. This was converted by Luke to give Norths a 6-2 half-time lead, after Rob S had put Arana into the lead with a penalty goal in the 17th minute. Unlike the evenness of the first half, the second half was a completely one-sided affair, with Norths completely dominating the Panthers in defence and attack, despite the absence of Jacob, which many felt would stifle their play. In fact Arana did not get into Norths 20 metre zone until the 27th minute of the second half, when Brendan scored another trademark try from dummy half to bring some respectability to the scoreboard which had blown out to 22-2 to the Devils at that stage. Norths 22-8 win certainly proved they are a force to be reckoned with this year, if they had not done so already. They did not have a bad player in the side, and were very aggressive in defence, which was the basis for the win. Arana certainly self-destructed to a degree in the second half, completing only 3 of their first 10 sets, whilst Norths completed 11 of their first 13 in the same period!! All Norths forwards played well, whilst in the backs Josh and Luke S were outstanding. For Arana, Dan G was outstanding, well backed up by Rob S and Rohan in the forwards and Brendan played well despite limited game time. Luke had another solid game in the backs, whilst Rodger and Dayne worked hard, and Alex T was again near the top of the hit-ups.
17th min: Rob S p.g.; Arana 2-0 (penalty following late tackle on Nash after kick)
25th min: Norths try/conv; Norths 6-2 (Josh scores from scrum win 40m out)
FIRST HALF STATS: Penalties: Arana 5-2; Completions: Arana 11/17 (64.7%); Norths 11/17 (64.7%)
34th min: Norths try/conv; Norths 12-2 (Luke S scores after wrong-fooring defence on 5th tackle)
42nd min: Norths try; Norths 16-2 (No.8 scores in corner after great pass from Luke S)
47th min: Norths try/conv 22-2 (Jozey breaks through 2 tackles close to line)
57th min: Brendan try/Geoff conv: Norths 22-8 (Brendan from dummy half)
SECOND HALF STATS: Penalties: Norths 4-3; Completions: Arana 8/14 (57.1%); Norths 12/16 (75.0%)
TOTAL STATS: Penalties: Arana 8-6; Completions: Arana 19/31 (61.2%); Norths 23/33 (69.7%)
At Tallowood Park Springwood hosted Redcliffe in what was expected to be another close affair, and quite incredibly for the Dolphins, for the fourth week in a row the game went down to the last minute!! This time however they were on the right side of the scoreboard scoring a converted try with 2 minutes left to post the only points of the second half and take a 16-12 lead, which they held despite a desperate last minute raid from the home side. The Tigers were first to score to take an early 6-0 lead, but Redcliffe fought back in the middle stages of the half to take a 10-6 lead, only to surrender it in the shadow of half time when Springwood scored a converted try. As mentioned above, the second stanza was a real arm wrestle with Redcliffe's try being enough to take the win.
The other Friday night game at Centenary Highway Reserve saw an even tighter game (and in line with my tonue-in-cheek prediction) did in fact result in a draw between Centenary and Logan Bros. Logan Bros started much the better, only failing to complete 2 sets in the first half, and jumping away to a 14-0 lead. A try by the Panthers just before half-time however proved crucial and they went into the break trailling by only 8. The home side continued its revival in the second half and scored 2 further tries to go to a 16-14 lead, before Logan Bros finally snapped back into action, scoring a converted try of their own to take a 20-16 lead. With three minutes to go however, Centenary scored with Tim Mc's conversion going just wide with the final result 20-20, in an enthralling battle.
The final game of the weekend saw Souths travel to Scott Park to take on Easts, with both keen to open their account for the season. The first half was hard fought with the home side going to the break with an 8 point lead, but the Magpies faded in the second stanza for the Tigers to run out easy winners 32-6.
What a great round which has left Norths outright competition leaders on 8 points. Arana are second on 6, with Centenary on 5 breathing down their neck. Springwood and Redcliffe on 4 make up the top 5 with Logan Bros just outside it on 3 points. Easts on 2 and Souths on 0 are 7th and 8th respectively.
Brad T
4/4/2004
