Souths Juniors: Alexandria Rovers fend off Dolphins challenge to secure grand final in return season
The Alexandria Rovers are into the Souths Juniors grand final after holding out a late charge from the Coogee Dolphins. See how the thriller played out, PLUS check our huge 30+ photo gallery.
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The fairytale return of the Alexandria Rovers to the Souths Juniors A-grade took one more step to being completed.
After getting out to a hot start, the Rovers were able to fend off a determined Coogee Dolphins outfit 36-22 at Mascot Oval to book their spot on grand final day.
It took less than four minutes for Rovers to strike, with Kareel Phillips working the short-side and putting a lovely ball onto the chest of Craig McKenzie to score.
“We had a game plan coming in all week where we wanted to start well,” coach Tommy Leal said.
“Throughout the year we’ve let the other team score first after a penalty or error, and it’s taken us a bit to get into the game.
“We came in with a clear plan. Let’s start physical, let’s target a few blokes we need to target and sure enough we did.
“We made it a bit hard for ourselves in the end. We got a little bit complacent but we did enough and we did the job.”
From the very next set it was a McKenzie bombed that was unable to be contained by the Dolphins, with Cruise Tweedie there to pounce on the scraps.
That lead was extended to 14 in the opening 11 minutes when Jayden Riley cut inside and his turn of foot left defenders grasping at thin air.
The Dolphins eventually got their hands on the ball and spent some time down in Alexandria territory, but the minor premiers were able to hold them out.
They returned down the other end of the field and this time it was the boot of Jake Trindall causing issues. He forced a mistake at the back and Matthew Stewart was there to get on the loose ball and push the lead out even further.
Finally Coogee was able to hit the scoreboard, with Mitchell Kelly getting a nice offload away to Rhys Cotter for the winger to have an easy path to the tryline.
Then came the moment of the game.
A spread inside the Rovers 10m line saw Kieren Mundine burn off his winger, race down the sideline, chip the fullback, regather and score to get the crowd on their feet to give Alexandria a commanding 24-4 lead at the break.
“You can’t teach that stuff with Kieren Mundine,” Leal said.
“You give him half an inch, he does the rest. He only come in halfway through the season and is the leading tryscorer by a mile.
“He’s an unreal talent. It’s a pleasure to coach him.”
That became a 26-point lead shortly into the second half as Phillips dummied, took the line on and found Tweedie on his inside to pick up his second.
Then came the Dolphins comeback.
It started with Jack Murray finding some space down the sideline to score, before Noba Obaseki bounced through multiple defenders to make it 30-16 soon after.
It was Obeski again that proved too strong from close range, cutting the margin to eight with 10 minutes to play, creating a few tense moments among players and spectators.
The Rovers held their nerve however, and had the game wrapped up when Tweedie completed his hat-trick in the closing stages.
It books them a clash with the Wombats next week in a rematch of last weekend’s qualifying final that saw Coogee start hot and prevail 16-10.
“We’re very excited,” Leal said.
“Wombats showed up last week with a plan and pulled our pants down. We had to regroup, we’re here now and we’ll be ready.”
RESERVE GRADE
Mascot pulled off the shock of the day, downing the minor premier Alexandria Rovers 24-10 to advance and take on Redfern All Blacks next week.
With the heat at its most brutal, both sides found the going tough early with a fairly scrappy start over the first 10 minutes.
Then it was Mascot who clicked into gear best, racing in three tries through John Tuuholoaki, Tom Perrin and Chase Sammons to lead 14-0 at the break.
Alexandria came out with an intensity in the second, but again it was the Jets to hit the scoreboard first with Joseph Touma streaking down the field to score.
Once Miller Toetu’u added another it was 24-0, and despite two late consolation tries to Tyler Brown and Beau Melville-Fitzgerald, Mascot was beyond catching.
It sets up a rematch from week one of the finals where RAB snuck home by just two points over Mascot in one of the games of the day.
WEEKEND GALLERY
Originally published as Souths Juniors: Alexandria Rovers fend off Dolphins challenge to secure grand final in return season
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