14/08/2010 Hunters vs Newport

Hunters Hill take a step closer to Division one

This Saturday promises to be an exciting spectacle for Hunters Hill Rugby club. Hillies will take on Briars Rugby club for the opportunity to get promoted to Division 1 if the team collects enough points over all the Grades. The cause was helped by wins for 1st, 2nd and 3rd Grade on Saturday at Boronia Park against Newport.

1st Grade had a number of players missing and had to make some changes from the side which defeated Oatley the week before. With nothing to play for except pride and the opportunity to spoil Hillies chances, Newport brought the game to the home side and had no intention of rolling over. They were very physical in the rucks and were highly organized in the set piece.
Hunters Hill were struggling to dominate in the pack and keep hold of the ball in contact.

Fortunately, Hillies counter attack, led by the pace of full back Burzin Mehta, was always dangerous and good work on the wings by Matt Lane and Dan Casa meant Hillies were always a threat. Hunters Hill took a healthy lead into half time depsite not being too convincing.

The 2nd half was much the same, both sides sharing points, with Mehta and No. 10 Bruce Purcell both kicking impressively, creeping Hillies further ahead. In the last 20 minutes, the Boronia Side got two tries through forwards Tom Kellaway and David Weston to put the result beyond doubt.
Hillies won 41-28, with Duncan Taylor collecting the player points and leading the back line well all game.

Hillies will be playing for promotion this Saturday at Briars.

2nd Grade

 

3rd grade

In somewhat typical style, third grade ground out another hard fought win 14-5.

Still smarting from the previous encounter against Newport a fortnight ago, which saw the finals aspirations of 3rd grade extinguished and coupled with the fact that it was Luke MacLennan's last game for Hunters Hill before returning to NZ, the side had a more than a few reasons to come out firing on Saturday.

The game got off to a positive start with the Hillies forwards dominating the rucks and scrums from the kick off. After dominating the early stages of the game, Hillies conceded some territory and a defensive error saw Newport open the scoring.

Hillies went straight back on the attack and spent a majority of time in the Newport half. A couple of missed opportunities, saw some frustration brewing but the side composed themselves and a quick tap saw an offload to Dom Curran to score Hillies first points of the match.

The forwards laid a solid platform all day. Brian Walker dominated his opposition in the scrums. Jonathon Shingler was everywhere, along with Dom Curran, Kit Baigent and Matt Macrae who were all over the Newport forwards.

At halftime, the score was 7-5 in favour of Hunters Hill.

The 2nd half opened with an early try to Rob Gray against the run of play, to see the margin extended to 14-5. From then on, it was end to end stuff with neither side capitalising on their opportunities. James Hammond, returning from injury sustained in the previous match against Newport, steadied the ship at fullback and the inside defence of Rob Gray and Luke MacLennan saw most Newport charges shutdown before they got any momentum.

Some strict refereeing decisions later in the 2nd half saw Newport get a roll on and make in-roads to Hillies red-zone, and eventually Hillies were reduced to 14 men. Despite this, Newport could not crack the rock solid defence.

Last but not least, a big thanks to Luke MacLennan for his past 2 seasons at Hunters Hill and for his efforts in 3rd grade this year more than capably filling a few different positions throughout the season. We wish him all the best for the future.

4th Grade

Newport 22 def Hunters Hill 10

A very disappointing first half saw Newport score three comparatively easy tries, to establish a healthy 17-0 lead at the break. We seemed a little overawed by their pace and power and when we did have the ball, paid the price for being both anxious and hasty in our decision making.
It must be said that the very poor offside lines contributed to the pressure we seemed constantly, to be under.

The second half was a very different story. Much better composure, an increased work rate and again, a reliance on our strengths at the contest saw us outscore Newport two tries to one. Mike Evans scored a cracker in his first game back from injury, while hard working lock James Edwards was also rewarded with a five pointer.

Take heart from that result fellas, we know that the playing field was not quite even, but we go to Rothwell this week knowing that we are still a strong chance of making the semi finals, our first year back in division two.

Colts

L 15 – 22

Unfortunately for the Colts Newport again exposed our defence and tactical weaknesses.  In a match that we hoped to turn around from a defeat two weeks ago, we leaked two tries in the first ten minutes.  This put us back on our heels.  We did well to come back even though our scrum and lineout were at times under pressure but our inability to catch the high ball on the full allowed Newport to prosper.  This coupled with our failure to use the prevailing conditions of sun and wind plus our impatience when we did get within striking distance let us down badly.

We can still win again any side in the competition but we must take off our pumpkin heads and reinstall our thinking rugby brains.  Also, as demonstrated by some in recent weeks by not attending and/or being late to training and late on game days plus obvious over imbibing on Friday night show our hunger for success is low. 

If we want it enough, success can be achieved.  If not, then a wasted season.

Very
Angry

Best and Fairest:  3 Tala Semu;  2 Nick Roach;  1 Alex Lloyd
Tries:  1 each to Latu Havea and Cosmo Jones
Goals:   1 conversion and 1 penalty to Mike Kellaway