Three games on Sunday to open the round, with the final game, Arana v Logan Bros, on Tuesday night due to the unavailability of a nuumber of players from both teams on Sunday.
In the first game, Springwood hosted Souths at Tallowood Park. The Magpies opened the scoring after an early Springwood error, but those 6 points were to be all the visitors could muster in the first half with the home side running riot to establish a winning 38-6 lead at break. To their credit Souths put up a stronger showing in the second half but the 58-18 final score equalled the highest score ever against this Souths outfit. The winning margin gave Springwood an important boost in their for-and-against in their tussle with Redcliffe for second spot.
With Arana having a day off, I travelled down to Dolphin Oval to see Redcliffe host Centenary and it turned out to be a very entertaining clash. Both sides were hot by injury and illness before and during the game, with Angus not playing for Redcliffe having been injured playing rugby yesterday, and Lauchlan managing only 10 minutes for Centenary due to illness. Both Jed F (Redcliffe) and Nick W (Cent) had to leave the ground with concussion during the game as well. The home side started the better scoring in the corner after only 2 minutes, and then extending their lead to 10-0 with a converted try in the 14th minute. This stung Centenary into action and they narrowed the margin to 4 with a Joe C try 9 minutes before the break. Right on half-time Tim Mc barged over from dummy-half and following a minor fracas after the try Kim I was dispatched to the sin-bin. Tim Mc's conversion gave the visitors a 12-10 lead at the break. The Dolphins survived the first 10 mins of the second half one player short and then put on 3 tries in seven minutes through some enterprising backline play to race to a 24-12 lead. A Brian P try brought Centenary back within a converted try with 2 minutes remaining but the Dolphins held on for an important victory 24-18.
Minute by minute:
2nd min: Redcliffe-2 try; Redcliffe 4-0
14th min: Redcliffe-15 try/13 conv; Redcliffe 10-0
20th min: Centenary-1 try/6 conv; Redcliffe 10-6
30th min: Centenary-6 try/conv; Centenary 12-10
44th min: Redcliffe 2--try; Redcliffe 14-12
49th min: Redcliffe 6-try; Redcliffe 18-12
52nd min: Redcliffe-5 try/13 conv; Redcliffe 24-12
58th min: Centenary-11 try/6 conv; Redcliffe 24-18
In the third Sunday game a depleted Norths side travelled to Scott Park to take on the much improved Easts outfit. This turned out to be a very tight encounter, highlighted by the loss of the referee late in the second half with a suspected broken ankle! Norths held on to beat the Tigers 28-22, after leading 14-12 at half time.
In the Tuesday night game, Arana hosted Logan Bros at Dawson Pde in cool, clear conditions. The home side had a dream start, scoring from a dropped bomb in the third minute to take a 4-0 lead. Logan struck back 10 minutes later after a neat chip-kick from their five-eight eventually saw their winger go over in the corner. The next 15 minutes was very evenly fought with both sides both attacking well and defending strongly. The Panthers eventually broke the deadlock with 2 minutes to half time when Zac powered over from a tap 10 metres out, and surprise kicker Brent's side;ine conversion gave them a 10-4 halftime lead. After the arm wrestle of the first half the second half started in completely the opposite manner with 4 tries being score in the opening 11 minutes. Logan Bros drew level only 2 minutes after the break when Mitchell M dived over from dummy half after an Arana error, but the Panthers struck back in their next set when a well worked backline move put Rodger over in the corner. A mistake from the kickoff again let Logan in when their second rower scored from close range, and the conversion gave Logan Bros the lead for the first time in the match 16-14. Almost unbelievably Logan fumbled from the kickoff and 2 tackles later Geoff ambled through a huge gap to put the home side back in front. The critical try came 10 minutes later, despite Arana losing their only reserve in that time when Brent was injured, when Rodger stood up his opposite number brilliantly to dash away and score to give Arana an 8 point lead with 8 minutes remaining. Logan managed a converted try with 2 minutes left to narrow the gap to 2 24-22, but that would be as close as they would get. This was really a great effort by the 14 Arana players who stuck to the game plan and executed well, with every player performing tho the best of their ability, and certainly again proves that there is no such thing as an easy game in this competition!
Minute by minute:
3rd min: Alex F try; Arana 4-0
14th min: Logan Bros-5 try; 4-4
27th min: Zac try/Brent conv; Arana 10-4
FIRST HALF STATS: Penalties: 2-2; Completions: Arana 12/15 (80.0%); Logan Bros 9/14 (64.3%)
32nd min: Logan Bros-9 try/7 conv; 10-10
36th min: Rodger try; Arana 14-10
39th min: Logan Bros-12 try/7 conv; Logan Bros 16-14
41st min: Geoff try/Rodger conv; Arana 20-16
51st min: Rodger try; Arana 24-16
57th min: Logan Bros 3-try/16 conv; Arana 24-22
SECOND HALF STATS: Penalties: Logan Bros 2-0; Completions: Arana 8/11 (72.7%); Logan Bros 9/14 (64.3%)
TOTAL STATS: Penalties: Logan Bros 4-2; Completions: Arana 20/26 (76.9%); Logan Bros 18/28 (64.3%)
Norths are still 4 points clear on top of the table, with Springwood's big win meaning they they have leapfogged Redcliffe into second place on for-and-against, with both on 12 points. Arana's win means they move back to 4th on 10 with Logan Bros on 9 making up the top 5. Centenary on 8, Easts on 5 and Souths on 0 remain outside the 5 at the moment.
Brad T
18/5/2004
