15/05/2010 Hunters vs St Ives

Hunters Hill 1st Grade kept hold 4th spot on the ladder after a close encounter away at St. Ives on Saturday.

Hillies didn't make the best start to the game, and found themselves down by a try early on. It looked like it would be another tough game, but Hunters Hill then took the game to St. Ives and Ben Bates pulled a try back after a long sprint down the touchline. Despite having most the possession, Hillies could not capitalize, and found themselves behind again after some good rucking by St. Ives. A converted try meant that Hunters Hill went into half time 14-5 down.

The 2nd 40 saw Hillies play some of the best rugby this year with No. 10 David Marshall finding space to offload to centres Warren Dowson and La La Havea. The forwards were disrupting the St. Ives breakdown, and jumpers Dean Thomson and Tom Kellaway were competitive in the every line out. Warren Dowson narrowed the points margin after scoring a penalty, and Jules Arndt scored a vital try after good mauling from the Hillies pack.

With the clock ticking down, Hillies got the winning try through David Marshall. A blitzing run through space after throwing a dummy, Marshall celebrated as he put the ball down. There were nervous moments in the final minutes, but the full time whistle blew and meant Hillies have now won four out of their six games so far this year, final score 18-14.

2nd Grade went down for the first time this year with a 14-5 lose. A try from Burzin Mehta, and good work from Thomas Cuniowski, centre Dave Bonner and returning prop Cam Van Oirschot were highlights in a close game.

3rds Grade kept up their habit of losing games narrowly, going down 19-12. Timmy Vewrtoudakis, Kit Baigent and outgoing Englishman Richard Smith all put in strong performances. 4th Grades grabbed a great win, 20-0. Tries from Liam Cooper, Andy Ball, Scott Liddicoat and full back Pat Feige gave the 4ths a well deserved win.

The colts were once again unlucky and went down 24-17. They have now collected 6 Bonus points in 6 games, displaying how unlucky the team has been, and the wins will surely be coming soon. Scott Woodward, Alex Lloyd and John Ah Lam all had great games.

Finally, Hillies 5th Grade had a good 7-0 win and continue to field a strong line-up week in week out.

5ths Report

Another great game of Rugby at the home of Hillies rugby- Boronia park. With a score line that read Nil-nil up till 2 minutes to go when the Hillies backline combined to score a great try after attacking from the half way with Nick Peny slicing through to go over for a clean try near the uprights. Milo Ferris added the two points to make it 7 nil with 2 minutes left on the clock

The great combination of Matt Kennedy at half back and Chris Parkes at fly half proved too classy for the Hills inside backs in the second half. The forwards had to work hard for less than our fair share of the possession. The Hills scrum was too strong for us and we had to rely on scappy ball and good defence in the first half to keep the Hills team scoreless at half time. A change of plan in the linouts and a different scrum technique helped to give a better percentage of clean ball for the backs to attack. There were several scoring oportnities and with a couple of close calls the Black and whites got a sniff of a win and kept the pressure on Hills all half. The try late in the game was a fitting reward for a constant wave of attacking pressure.

Chris Parks at fly half was clever in his variations and allowed the cntres of Will Rosner and Michael Murohy to gain valuable metres and giving room for wingers  Martin Gidasweski and Tom Wilson to get some good runs in. Scott Lawson return from injury added extra pace and firepower at Full back.

Up Front James Edwards was stong and powerful in the second row and first time forward Mathew Mihaljevic  seemed to revel at playing flanker. I think we have foud ourselves another forward.

Chirs Parks 3 James Edwards 2 Martin Gidaszewski 1