Round 9 of the Oilsplus South West Rugby Competition saw the Young Yabbies travel over to Boorowa for a clash against the Goldies for their NSW Farmers Round. After a tight, physical game when these teams first clashed in Round 2, this game was always pegged to be a hard and physical contest and anyone in the crowd can attest that neither team was there to disappoint. The Yabbiemen piled into a bus for the voyage to Boorowa for an on-field battle and in order to help repay the favour to the Goldies’ of supporting a Major Sponsor because we all know that the sponsors are the lifeblood of a Rugby Club!
The first 20 minutes of the game was filled with the intensity that was expected, with neither team prepared to give an inch, but both trying to take a mile at every opportunity. Both sides exhibited some first class defence, some fantastic running and hard-hitting rugby, and most importantly both teams exhibited a desire to want to win!
With the intensity of the first 20-25minutes of the game, both teams started to blow a bit. Some poor discipline from the Yabbiemen at the ruck phase saw them piggy back the Goldies down the field. After repeated phase play, Michael Berry finally found a weakness in the Yabbies defence and crashed over for the Goldies’ first try. Conversion successful by Michael Berry.
Young 0-7 Boorowa
The Yabbies were keen to hit back hard, with a deep, penetrating kick off they worked hard to ensure that the Goldies would remained pinned in their half. After some hard hits, the Yabbies saw a penalty come their way. A quick decision by Ned Mullany to take the tap and send it out to James Schiller saw the Yabbies’ speedster attracting the defence, which provided an opportunity for him to swing it wide to Thomas Dudek who crossed the line virtually untouched for the Yabbies’ first try. Conversion successful by Owen Griffiths.
Young 7-7 Boorowa
The Goldies hit hard off the kick off and pinned the Yabbies deep in their own half. The Yabbies defended well on their own line, when James Schiller saw an opportunity and stripped an attacking Goldie of the ball virtually on the Yabbies’ tryline. James then demonstrated his impressive speed, strength and evasive skills to slip through the Goldie’s defence, making it to near the 50m line when the Goldies’ defence finally started to catch up with him. Some impressive support play saw James Schiller supported by Ned Mullany, who then passed it to Owen Griffiths and finally to Thomas Dudek to score a length of the field try. Conversion successful by Owen Griffiths.
Young 14-7 Boorowa
Some slick back moves from the Goldies saw Mark Poplin make a break through the Yabbies defence. As he was tackled, some quick support from Brad Rose saw Brad find some open space before he crossed the line for the Goldies’ second try. Conversion unsuccessful by Brad Rose.
Young 14-12 Boorowa
Half Time
Young 14-12 Boorowa
The half-time discussions in both huddles would have been filled with similar contents about trying to shut down the opposition’s attack and to really focus on one-on-one defence, of which both teams were doing quite well.
The second half started with a bang, with both teams exhibiting the same energy as they had at that start of the match. The Goldies’ were just a bit hungrier at the start of the second half, with Hamish McGuiness finding an opportunity to cross the Line for the Goldies’ third try only 5 minutes in to the half. Conversion unsuccessful by Brad Rose.
Young 14-17 Boorowa
Some solid hit-ups by the Yabbies forward pack saw the Yabbies build some momentum in the Goldies’ half. Some quick, clean ball from the back of the ruck to Ned saw Brendan Shoard spot an option out wide. Some gold-class service to James Schiller saw him put on a display of his speed and evasive skills to cross the line for the Yabbies’ third try of the match. Conversion successful by Owen Griffiths.
Young 21-17 Boorowa
A line break from the Yabbies saw them make some quick major metres down the field. Fast, clean service of the ball to Ned provided an opportunity out wide. The ball went wide to James Schiller who sucked in the defence before providing crisp, clean ball to Owen Griffiths who crossed the line in the corner and then jogged in to place the ball between the goalposts. Conversion unsuccessful by Owen Griffiths.
Young 26-17 Boorowa
The Goldies hit back hard off the kick off, quickly recapturing the ball and putting pressure on the Yabbies defence. But the Yabbies defence held strong, with good line speed and a solid line reverting the pressure on to the Goldies’ attack. The Goldies swung the ball wide and James Schiller showed his strength once again, ripping the ball from a Goldies grasp and demonstrated his speed running at least 80m to score an impressive individual try against the run of play. Conversion successful by Owen Griffiths.
Young 33-17 Boorowa
The Goldies knew that they needed to be the next to strike if they wanted to stay in the game, and so they hit back hard again. This time they kept the ball tight and sent wave after wave of attack up against the Yabbies’ brick wall of defence. With a couple of penalties going their way, the Goldies’ took a quick tap option hoping to keep the Yabbies’ napping, but the defence held strong. Wave after wave from the back of the rucks continued to hit the Yabbies defence within 5m of the try line. Finally, Tim Gregory saw the only hole in the Yabbies defence and decided to try his hand at flying, diving over the top of the ruck in order to cross the tryline. Conversion unsuccessful by Brad Rose
Young 33-22 Boorowa
The Yabbies continued to try their hand at keeping the Goldies camped in their own half and seemed to be having some success. A penalty against the Yabbies saw an opportunity for the Goldies to march them back down the field. A solid attempt to keep the ball in play by Beau O’Connor unfortunately saw a fellow Yabbieman play the ball from an offside position, giving the Goldies another opportunity to continue their march down the field. The Yabbies very quickly went from being on the attack inside the Goldies’ 22m to being in defence just inside their own 22m.
After a few phases of crash balls, the Goldies finally sent it out wide to Brad Rose who fed a perfect inside ball to Mark Poplin who found an opening in the Yabbies defence to crash over the line with only a few minutes left on the clock. Conversion unsuccessful by Justin Fleming.
Young 33-27 Boorowa
With only minutes to go, the Yabbies were intent on getting their hands on the ball and winding down the clock, but the Goldies had other plans. The Goldies made their way just inside the Yabbies’ half, but yet again they were met with a solid line of Yabbies’ defence. Some long advantages were played, with the game seeming to drag out, but the Yabbies’ defence was proving to be too solid right to the very end. Finally, the Yabbies forced a handling error from the Goldies’ attack, which resulted in the final whistle being blown.
Full Time Result Young 33-27 Boorowa
First off, the Yabbies would like to tip their hat to Andrew “Cheese” Corcoran who undertook the officiating of the match with short notice and provided a fair and largely unbiased refereeing of the match! As has happened a few times this year, a shortage of referees in the competition has resulted in someone having to step up and move into a position that they weren’t entirely comfortable with to ensure that the game can go on.
“The Yabbieman Can” echoed loudly around the field, with Club Captain Brendan Shoard leading the boys with the team’s song with gusto. Club President Cec Finley could be seen on the sideline amongst the other Yabbies supporter sporting a grin from ear-to-ear.
Coach Ned had a few quick comments post-match, “I really couldn’t be prouder of the boys today. Everyone really turned up to play and they all did their job well, which means that we really had some good cohesion and it would’ve been awesome to watch from the sideline. I think our defence was again one of our strong points and it’s proving to be a cornerstone of our performance. There’s always got to be something to work on, so I’ll have a good hard think about what that is before training on Tuesday.”
Points Scorers:
Young
Tries Thomas Dudek (2), James Schiller (2), Owen Griffiths
Conversions 4/5 – Owen Griffiths
Boorowa
Tries Michael Berry, Brad Rose, Hamish McGuiness, Timothy Gregory, Mark Poplin
Conversions 1/1 – Michael Berry
0/3 – Brad Rose
0/1 – Justin Fleming
Best & Fairest Points:
3 – Owen “Schooner” Griffiths
2 – Will Munday
1 – Jesse “Danger” Pittman
Players Player – James Schiller
Next weekend, the Yabbiemen will host the top of the table Cootamundra Tri-Colours for the inaugural SWSCU Ben Smith Memorial Trophy match. Any plans for next weekend should revolve around heading down to Cranfield Oval for what will be a solid spectacle of a match! More details on the match to come with the release of the team announcement.
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