| On Saturday 11th the P.O.B under 9 Blue team played the final game of the season against Woodlands. Coach John Butler was concerned how his team would go against one of the top teams in the competition. This Woodlands team had clocked up some big scores against other teams including scoring 1oo points against the other Woodlands team. Taking how well Reagan John’s Senior Div 2 team finished off their season with some ‘champagne’ footy to dismantle a very good Marist team Coach Butler decided the Blue team {Smurfs] should apply some what we would say how about Rasberry & Coke rugby instead.{Not the cheap stuff but the real thing} A really good training run on Thursday night & with the guys switched on had us thinking we might be in for something special for our last game. We wouldn’t have our prop Sean Dockerty for the game as Seano was away chasing birds for the weekend {Quail shooting} so we grabbed Ben Jennings & Connor Douglas for the day. As a back-up we had Connor’s brother Carter to play if needed. We thought a change of positions might help our cause so we swapped our regular halfback Flynn Jackson & fullback Jake Kura around. Young Flynn isn’t the biggest player around so was getting bashed around by some bigger blokes in the other teams. One thing Jake is good at is communicating with the other guys & can read a game pretty good so we thought we would have a crack. On game day with our game the only one on CPT5 the Woodlands coach thought it would be a good idea to extend the ground to a full half.{An extra 10 metres} This worried us as Woodlands like to use the ball wide with their gas on the outside; but we agreed as we have a bit of gas as well. Our game plan was simple; to pressure the opposition with rushing defence & to attack the ball when Woody had procession. And when we had the pill to play at pace. I thought there might have been a bit of over confidence in the Woodlands team & it proved right as we scored in the 1st couple of minutes. In a see-saw 1st half saw P.O.B leading Woodlands 20-10 at halftime. Our game plan was working with the pressure the guys put on Woody had them trying to make play behind the advantage line. Halftime message was simple; don’t take the foot off the pedal & not to let them back into the game. | |
Early in the 2nd half we didn’t do that & Woodlands scored 2 quick tries. After the 2nd try Coach Butler had a tactical shoelace to do up & called the guys in. The message sunk in & the guys piled on the pressure to run-out comfortable winners 40-20. One of our tries was an absolute boomer a defensive line-out Coach Butler called for Sam McDonald to take it down & give to Lachie Nimmo to charge up the guts as there was a huge gap there. But to the coach’s dismay Lachie past the ball to Jake Kura who in turn set the backline away. Some excellent passing & support play had us scoring a fantastic team try in the corner. What do coach’s know. In all both teams played in a positive manner with the way they threw the ball around; both sets of supporters had to agree it was 1 of the best games of the season. One of the highlights was seeing Flynn Jackson getting his mojo back. With him at fullback he had more time & space to move in; he easily beat the 1st defender & was able to link up with the rest of the team. This was by far his best game of the season. Lachie Nimmo; Sam McDonald; Jack Butler; Josh McDonough & Lucy Hall were again standouts in the forward pack. These guys along with Jake our halfback really put pressure on the Woodlands attacking powers. Our other forward Cullen McLeod who is in his 1st season of footy really stood up in this game. His work rate in the lineout & maul time really helped us achieve our game plan. Cullen exceeded more than the coach had asked for. Our backs played absolute blinders with Jake & Flynn as I already have stated having cracking games. Jacob Mika at 1st 5 is the teams rock. With his big defence & ability to beat defenders was a real handful to the Woodlands players. Our 2nd 5 /centre Daniel Bremner who is the smallest in our team & probably the whole competition plays with a ticker of Brad Thorn. This joker has gas; a step & doesn’t miss tackles. He is a real find this year & has a big future in the game. And to Ben Jennings & Connor Douglas thanks guys; you 2 entered in the spirit of the game & played like you have been playing all year with us. Coach Butler coached Connor a few years ago & is impressed with the way Connor’s game has come along. His try 1 of the highlights of the day. Overall a pretty good year; but what a way to finish the season off. Very hard to pick a player of the day as the whole team deserved it.
Player of the day Jacob ‘Roy Asotasi’ Mika
The team was well led by Jake Kura l
Player of the day Jacob ‘Roy Asotasi’ Mika
The team was well led by Jake Kura l
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