Club rugby colts Team of the Week; 50 match milestone for women
Club rugby: Who made our Colts 1 Team of the Week - plus 50 match celebration for women’s milestone players from Brothers and GPS.
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Brothers colts started like a house on fire, had a mid-match lull, and then finished with three late tries to defeat Bond while the Tigers and University also revved their engines during second half recoveries.
Before Bond knew it they were down 21-nil against a rampagin Brothers, but as the match progressed Bond got as close as 28-19 before Brothers pressed the go button on the downhill run.
In all colts results, Brothers defeated Bond Uni 45-19, Souths pipped GPS 10-5, Easts got rolling to beat Norths 36-17, while UQ rolled up its sleeves to beat Wests 31-5.
And in women’s matches, Easts beat Norths 70-nil, the GPS women prevailed over Souths in a close encounter, 19-17 while Bond had an impressive 68-12 win.
There were 50th game celebrations for Anna Nasalo (GPS) and Georgie Lewis (Brothers) in women’s games.
In colts 1 action at Crosby Park, Brothers coach Greg Beaver was pleased his team was able to wake from its slumber and finish strongly after Bond had courageously earned momentum.
“That is something we did not do well last year,’’ explained Beaver. “When we got to a lull, we didn’t show resilience to get out of it.
“So the way we finished at the end, it was really good for us.’’
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Brothers fullback Kaiden Pritchard started Brothers’ roll in the opening minutes with an attacking kick that was fumbled by Bond.
Pressure then mounted and a crisp line out catch from Tanna Wilson, followed by a rolling maul, then handed Brothers one of their two close quarter combat tries.
It was all one way traffic for the opening 20 minutes until Bond were able to out flank Brothers midway through the first half with a slick right side shift to score.
But Brothers struck back off the foundation of a square attacking scrum, with centre Hunter Lim muscling his way to the line. It was a powerhouse charge by Brothers best back.
Down 28-7 in baking summer hear, Bond just had to show something. And they did.
Having displayed great resolve, the Coast boys slowly worked their way back into the match and on the stroke of halftime Bond’s hard work paid off, with the long reach of outstanding prop Usher Hunter finding the chalk to score. The door was ajar at 28-14.
Brothers then invited Bond back with a series of unforced errors across the opening quarter of the second half and once Bond were good enough to capitalise, with inside centre Alex Miles brilliantly creating a try for his winger. The score was 28-19.
Bond’s recovery included a tight head scrum win and momentum had shifted.
But Brothers then started as they finished, with three quick tries dousing Bond.
The best was a finish from winger Toshi Butlin whose strength and power got him to the line more so than his abundant pace.
Bond coach Rico Gear said it was pleasing to score 19 points against quality opposition after not troubling the scoreboard in the previous game.
“The effort was really good, the intensity was great and the boys were trying really hard,’’ Gear said.
“We put them under a lot of pressure when we scored out points - three, four and five phases - and were really accurate, so that was very pleasing to know we could do that.
“But we struggled a bit with accuracy around lineouts and our catch-pass, just those basic things. And against a good side you were going to get hurt.’’
He said the side lacked a bit of experience for the match, but the starting side would get stronger.
Respective props
Harrison Usher (Bond) and Malakai Taulani (Brothers) had a ding-dong battle all game and must be commended given the quality of their confrontation in the heat.
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At Ashgrove, Souths No.8 Dominic Thygesen was outstanding as the Magpies edged out GPS in a close one.
Souths dominated territory but could not put a gutsy GPS away, although they deserved their win.
Magpies coach Cian O’Connor said his team was not executing their chances and scoring points on attack.
“Last year we did the same thing, but we were not winning.
“At least we are winning. We were scratchy but coming off a bye, I am happy enough to get out of their with a win.’’
He liked his team’s defence and ability to create turnovers.
GPS were close to their first win of the season, but it was Souths who prevailed again to continue a wonderful start to the season by the Magpies.
Coach Sio Kite said his team’s willingness to keep working for each other and fight was much better and a great improvement following the disappointment against Uni in round 2.
But he wants to keep on improving on the team’s work at the breakdown, an area where the Magpies were very strong.
GPS lock Pat Gavin was fabulous in his return from a 12 month lay-off (ACL) while blind flanker Mattias Maugatai again led the way along with winger Zac Masinews.
At Courtney Oval, Easts utility back Gus Godwin again showed his class as the Tigers overcame a spirited home side.
Godwin scored two tries, but also worked well across the match as Easts got the job done in the second half after Norths threatened a first half ambush.
“The second half performance was better,’’ reflected Easts coach Tyrell Barker.
“But we need to be better starting the game.’’
Norths coach Tom Donnell said his team needed to work on lapses in concentration. “They put on three quick tries in the last 10 minutes which led to the loss,’’ he said.
“But attacking wise we were able to exploit kicking space and apply prssure coming away with points and counted attacked strongly.’’
Donnell said overall Norths defensive effort was great - aside from the final 10 minutes.
At Sylvan Road, University rolled over the top of a 14-man Wests to win comfortably.
With halfback Tom Manca dictating play from the ruck and breakdowns, No. 8 Pat Sowerby a powerhouse, and centre Siliva Leofa a nice link on the edge, Uni found their way to the winners post against a Wests side which refused to throw in the towel.
While first half red card aided Uni, the Red Heavies’ coach Matt Ingram was pleased his team did not chase the space wildly looking for gaps.
“We stayed composed after their red card and did not fall into trap and looking for fools gold,’’ he said.
“We cashed in during second half.’’
Still, Ingram wants University to hit and stick more in defence, and not miss first up tackles.
Wests coach Roscoe Deacon said it was a really tough day after losing a man in the second minute.
“That was disappointing because we were up for today,’’ he said.
“Still I thought we scrambled really well for about 45 minutes. We created a couple of great opportunities but couldn’t complete the last pass.
“We also made some simple errors at crucial moments so didn’t get any reward.’’
Still only down by two scores at the break, Wests believed they were a chance.
“Unfortunately we ran out of gas around the 50 minute mark,’’ Deacon said.
“I am pleased with our effort to stay in the game as long as we did, but we need to learn to be more patient in our attack and cut down in simple errors.’’
For our team of the week, we juggled outside backs Godwin (Easts), Gollings (Bond) and Leofa (Uni) around to get all three in the top 15.
Team of the Week
15. Gus Godwin (Easts)
14. Zac Masinews (GPS)
13. Siliva Leofa (Uni)
12. Hunter Lim (Brothers)
11. Rocco Gollings (Bond)
10. William Nason (Souths)
9. Tom Manca (Uni)
8. Dominic Thygesen (Souths)
7. Patrick Sowerby (Uni)
6. Mattias Maugatai (GPS)
5. Lachlan Beath (Norths)
4. Pat Gavin (GPS)
3. Harrison Usher (Bond)
2. Aidan Beech (Brothers)
1. Malakai Taulani (Brothers)
Reserves: Mackenzie Fox (Norths)
Tanna Wilson (Brothers)
Matthew Schoutrop (wests)
Nick Weir (Norths)
Dom Kallquist (Wests)
Matt Schoutrop (Wests)
Women’s report
Bond University’s women had a rollicking victory, but it could not quell the enthusiasm of Brothers’ skipper Georgie Lewis in her milestone match.
Bond’s impressive 68-12 win included some wonderful finishing as Diane Waight, Charlize Ratu, Georgie Grey and Caitlyn Costello benefited from the ball winning of their forwards and the snappy halfback play of Amahli Sieli Haia.
Bond coach Lawrence Faifua said after a poor side, his side was impressive the way they learned from early mistakes.
He said it was important for his team learn to start better and pointed to the consistent performance of his captain and lock Aleisha as a benchmark. He said she was outstanding.
Brothers coach Tony Wall was proud of the effort given the squad included everyone from a Super W player, right down to players completely new to the code - and seven-a-side players who have never played 15s.
“And they keep turning up,’’ he said. “They played a brave game out there, and in good spirits.
“I know from both sides there is a lot of respect.
“Bond are amazing. They are the benchmark and one day we’d like to play like them as well.
“And we will continue to push that (ambition).’’
The match was the 50th appearance for Brothers captain and flanker Lewis, a fourth generation Brothers player.
“My grandfather (E P Williamson) was a massive idol for me to play for Brothers,’’ said Lewis, a Clayfield College alumni.
“The year he passed away was my first year playing here. And since then it has been like a home.
“It is something I have always had in my adult life and the one thing for me is that I want to let everyone know, it does not matter who you are or where you come from, Atherton Tablelands or Condamine, there is always a hook with a jersey on it for you at Brothers.’’
At Courtney Oval, Norths women’s coach Gary Wilson said it will be important for his team to focus on ball security and defensive structures in the weeks ahead after a big loss to Easts.
He said his side defended for most of the match against Easts, but overall he was proud of the effort.
“I am proud of the week-in, week-out effort,’’ he said.
“They show up with heart and we are still building our on field cohension.
“Off the field they are a very tight group and dedicated team that always strives to improve’’
He said Rekekah Pulea and Aisilin Steele were his best today.
Easts co-coach Shannon Symon said he was delighted with the Tigers attack in the “wider channels’’. “It has been a key work on for the team. We have strong forward carriers but lacked connectivity with our backline, so that was very pleasing.
“And so was getting a win on the board this season, obviously.’’
Sha
nnon Symon at flanker and fellow breakaway Azaria Brill both did well. “It was also to have the new edition Luanna Moors who was solid in the midfield.’’
The Tigers also welcomed the return of fullback Piper Flynn who added an injection from the back.
At Ashgrove, GPS won 19-17, a thriller in every sense of the word.
Souths flyhalf Leka Tuaana led her team toward an upset win before the Galloping Greens prevailed.
“It was an amazing effort from our girls,’’ said coach David Hansen.
“We are missing at least 10 players and lost even more the night before the day of the game, so the effort was exceptional.
“We will get reinforcements back from injury and will be much better for it.’’
GPS coach Mutch Kite was pleased with his team’s composure to win. “We stayed in the fight until the final whistle,’’ he said proudly.
“We didn’t have much go our way in the second half and mostly defended.
“We hung in and scored a last minute try to win.’’
He said the squad just needed to work on its match fitness after the break. “I under-estimated the impact on us, but I am happy we can improve on a number of things.’’
He said Helina Young created chances from nothing and finished with three tries - she won the game ball.
“Stalwart Anna Nasalo toiled away all game in her 50th match. We were happy to get a win for her.’’
In Saturday’s late match, University scored four tries to two in an extremely hard fought win over the Bulldogs.
Gowen, Savelio, Daniells and Malele Iafeta all crossed for the winners, while Wests pushed hard for victory after both Nugent and Mikaio scored tries.
“I am very happy we got the win even though we didn’t play a lot of time to our strluctire. But when we did, we managed to score some good tries,’ said Uni coach Savelio.
“I have to admire the defensive effort as a whole from my girls against a much bigger pack.
“The girls put their bodies on the line.
“Our forwards dominated the game and we spent probably 80 per cent of the time down Wests end.
“Our lineouts are becoming a major game changer, with us winning 100 per cent of our ball, and stealing some of Wests ball.’’
He praised the team’s positive energy and culture. “We will build on that as we go forward for the rest of the season.’’
He praised Caitlin Urwin with her metre eating runs in the midfield, while Brooke Savelio as captain led the team “especially when the game became a dogfight’’.
Her leadership and decisions steered us well through the game.’’
For the Bulldogs, Holly Thompson had a terrific starting debut.
Aged just 15, she played flanker and worked hard for 60 minutes, including pinching three turnovers.
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