Downlands College old boy inspires Bond in Colts rugby
Easts wrestled free of Wests’ grasp while a Downlands College old boy helped engineer a penalty try victory by Bond Uni over GPS in colts rugby.
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A cloudless, blustery Brisbane day produced one of the games of the season with table topping Easts edging out fifth placed Wests 22-14 at the Kennel.
It was a two-point game with just 12 minutes left, but relentless pressure from the competition leaders finally broke through a gutsy defensive stand.
A try in the corner and late penalty sealed the game for Wests after a true back-and-forth battle.
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Ex-Gregory Terrace star and Bulldogs inside centre David Vaihu opened the scoring when he made something out of absolutely nothing.
Vaihu steamed onto a crash ball and busted through a number of defenders, running 50m to score under the posts.
The wind was a factor early in the game and Easts used it to their advantage while it was at their backs.
A set play off a line out close to the line meant East’s hooker Zac Crothers scored without being touched to even the score.
Easts knew they had to rack up points with the wind on their back, opting against a penalty from right in front paying off when winger Lui Malaitai scored from close range in the corner.
A two-point arm-wrestle at the half continued in the second-half, with the Wests really starting to dominate.
A number of consecutive penalties meant Easts’ scrum half William Kirk was shown the yellow card.
Wests second try came shortly after when as their forwards pushed their way over the try line from a 5m scrum and scrum half Zach Shore dived on the ball next to the posts giving Wests the lead.
Easts’ players wouldn’t give up, working their their way downfield and spending 10 minutes on the Bulldog’s line.
The defence cracked with winger Meli Dreu scoring from an overlap in the corner. Kirk nailed the conversion from the sideline in extremely difficult conditions.
Francis Pona and Ben Stoddart starred for Easts as the Tigers continue their strong run into the finals.
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Easts Coach Tyrell Barker was pleased with the way his team hung in and finished the game.
“I think we were the dominant side. Wests hung in there pretty well, we probably made some errors that allowed them opportunities to put pressure on us,” Barker said.
“Credit to how we finished the game, scoring right at the end.”
Wests Coach Rob Roiri was happy with the improvement of his side and was excited to see the younger players getting used to Colts rugby.
“We’ve finally turned a corner and you always talk about schoolboy football - they’ve come out and really earnt their stripes,” Mr Roira said.
“They’re (Easts) number one and we know what they bring. They are a fantastic side so we needed to slowly get into our game.”
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At Yoku Rd, second season colts reserve prop from Downlands College was the hero as Bond University clinched an after the siren victory over GPS at Ashgrove.
Prop Matt Ziedler and his fellow front rowers Tyrone Albertyn (hooker) and Aisea Aholelel engineered a last gasp win 18-17 when the Bond scrum extracted a penalty try.
Despite howls of protest from the GPS camp that time was up before the last scrum was fed, the penalty try was awarded and Bond had claimed a much needed victory.
Coached by former Wallaby Garrick Morgan when he was a student at Downlands College, Zielder had come into the game after starting prop Iafeta Maa was carried from the field injured.
“Give him the man of the match. He straightened it (the scrum) up,’’ said a relieved Bond coach Brendan Jones.
Zielder said his team mates drew inspiration from seeing Maa carried off following a neck complaint. “Basically we needed to get that done. We owed that to him.’’
A few minutes prior to the match winning eight man shove by Bond, the GPS scrum had actually won the ball back and the Galloping Greens looked to have escaped.
But two successive scrum penalties and ultimately a matchwinning attacking scrum raid elevated Bond marginally over their rivals.
It was the second time in three matches that GPS had lost a match as the referee was looking at his watch to blow full time.
Heartbreak hill was first encountered by GPS against Easts when the Tigers scored after the bell, and now again against Bond University.
“We didn’t get to play much footy. We still have a lot of mistakes in us, but we won,’’ said coach Jones.
“We want to get to play footy but we still have a lot of improvement. We are running at about 70 per cent.’’
An early intercept try to Bond Uni enabled the Gold Coast side to take a 5-nil advantage running into the wind in the first half.
But GPS played better in the second 35 minutes, and a pick and drive try followed by a Campbell Moller try after a Lachan Howe burst took GPS out to 12-5.
Bond star fullback Ethyn Martin then glided over in the corner before GPS recaptured the lead after a rollicking effort from forward Ethan Lucey.
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GPS halfback Tom Cox should take a bow.
Aside from his excellent scrum base service and option taking, he twice made telling tackles.
One was a trysaving effort on runaway Bond flanker Nik Mitchell, while another hustling effort on Bond No.15 Martyn turned over possession, leading to a GPS try against the run of play.
In other matches Brothers had a fight before beating Norths 17-10 in a local derby while University of Queensland beat Sunnybank 62-17.
At Courtney Oval, the Brothers effort was spearheaded by flankers Mitch Lowrie and Oliver Harvey, while fullback Oscar Varricchio showed his class.
Norths coach Dan Ritchie again lamented a narrow loss. “When you play a predictable team you can’t play into their hands and our errors cost us,’’ Ritchie said.
“It was another case of so close.’’
Dragons centre Izeah Day English played his way into the Team of the Week.
Team of the Week
15. Oscar Varricchio (Brothers)
14. Ethyn Martin (Bond)
13. Izeah Day English (Sunnybank)
12. Francis Pona (Easts)
11. Meli Dreu (Easts)
10. Lachie McDonald (University)
9. Tom Cox (GPS)
8. Marlon Jones (Bond)
7. Mitch Lowrie (Brothers)
6. Cayle Manu (Norths)
5. Luscas Boyland (Norths)
4. Will Robinson (Wests)
3. Josh Mongard
2. Tyrone Albertyn
1. Matt Ziedler
Reserves: Ethan Lucey (GPS), Aisea Aholelel (Bond), Will Kirk (Easts), Ben Waller (University), Luke Kofutau (Bond), Ben Stoddart (Easts).
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