10/04/2010 Hunters vs UNSW

Welcome to season 2010! On the back of last years success we've entered the ranks of Subbies elite in division 2. Saturday turned out to be a fairy tale start for the black and white off the back of a bi-polar pre-season. The show of the day kicked off at 3:15 after a stella seconds victory. The game had everything. Good bits, bad bits and nail biting moments. UNSW's Club Captain described it as a game of two halves and at half time the home crowd was worried. The game came down to the brilliance of the Beyounce of rugby union. The one they call LALA.

Suddenly in the last quarter La La hit the gap fresh from league sprint training. With Dave Marshall still not 100% with his niggling hamstring injury, who was left to convert? Burzin was. Hammo didn't know his mate had it in him. But being right in front even Matt Dunning could kick it. As if it was dejavou Lala hit the gap in the final minutes and this time the defense weren't willing to injure themselves with the 110kg, 5 foot unit running directly at the try line.

I've never heard the crowd cheer so loudly after such an awesome effort even more so then when we beat Balmain during their ladies day in the final minute. Other note worthy mentions goes to the players of the day Chris Groves and Cosmo Jones. Chris not only played 2s in the heat of the day after countless scrums to but backed up for 1s and played a total of 140 mins for the day. I'm sure Chris has woken up 10 kgs lighter. Groves hasn't played ones since 2006 and I'm sure his display in both games was favorable to the coaching committee.

Mal the coaching rock of HHRUFC juniors and now seniors was proud when Cosmo "Kraimer" Jones took the field for his virgin debut in first grade. Cosmo hadn't played a game in seniors in his life and to jump in the deep end was a big effort. Cosmo showed strength and determination. Even after getting nailed by the UNSW no. 8 Cosmo jumped back up and re-aligned. Rumor has it Cosmo got up before the 8 did. On that note the colts came away victorious against Wayne Afrika's UNSW colts team, coming back from 10- 0 down.

Once every 35 games magic happens. The magic came in the form of Gac scoring his first try in as many games. Under the tutor-ledge of Frenchie and the Chief the game was confined to the forwards. The 2nd grade front row was gifted with a smaller opposition and this placed our set piece in tact for Chris Collins outside of the 2nd five Smitty to do his stuff. Collins was swift and nimble, almost Morgan Turinui like in his attack crossing the line to put HH further in the lead. Alex Vertoudakis continued on his try scoring ways off the back of your's trulies pick and drive.

In the other grades thirds went down to UNSW while fourth grade had a strong victory with the absence of props OZ and Browny .Fifth grade had a lot of new players to rugby figuring out how to tackle and how cool ruck marks are. Tip: it's going to sting in the shower, and the ladies love em.

Cheers,
Timmy V.