Saturday was one of those dream days for rugby tragics, the sort of day where Rex Julian walks around bellowing “You Bloody Beauty” just for the hell of it. For the Neddies supporters club – aka The Third Half – the day kicked off with a lunch around at Rex & Kerrie’s fibro shack on the Foreshore which included a great speech from Juniors President Nigel Eaton on how Neddies is going about nurturing young talent to eventually take over from the current stars like Magnum, Whale and Kevin Ball. From rugby lunches it was on the bus to see some live rugby action and catch a couple of Test matches to boot. Don’t you just love rugby season. Another big discussion point at The Third Half lunch was the annual Neddies Test lunch being held at the Convention Centre on August 28. Make sure you book your seat for that, or even better, book a table of 10. Details on the club website.

On the field and most of the action was at McGillivray Oval where the 1st Grade team was looking to get its season back on track against a University team celebrating its 80th anniversary. The Neddies team included some new faces in veteran prop Terry “Max” Smith, whose put his frame to great use in the front row, and flying colts winger Matt “Boots’ Venter. While the students had been showing some form in recent games, it was Neddies who burst out the blocks to take a 10-3 halftime lead with tries to winger Alvin “Stardust” Lau and centre Zane Houia. Neddies looked to have a decent buffer at 16-3 after Mike “Devo” Denton had slotted a penalty goal and skipper Nathan Roberts had potted a dropped goal. But then Uni stormed back into the match with a converted try to reduce the margin to 16-10. Uni threw an even bigger scare into the Neddies camp with another late try to draw within striking distance at 19-15, but luckily that’s where the scores remained when the referee blew his final whistle.

One interesting spectator at the game was new Emirates Western Force recruit Tim Fairbrother from the Hurricanes, who made it down to training on Thursday to meet his new Neddies team mates. Coach Tony Ball should also have the likes of Juan “JP” Pretorius, Joey Egan and Barry Mansfield back from injury soon, though Stu Farquharson looks set for a long stint on the sideline after busting his ankle against Rocky last week. By the way, has anyone seen Justin Webster lately?

In 2nd Grade, Neddies faced a Uni team which came out strongly and maintained their determination throughout the game. Neddies registered first points only 17 minutes into the first half where our sharp shooter Ren D’Alberto started the scoreboard ticking with a penalty. The boys know the patterns now and were applying their game plan well when finally Chris Doherty playing his first game at 15 jinked his way through the defence to score in the corner. The first half was a real arm wrestle and Neddies did not really look like conceding any points until just before half time when some clever play by Uni continuously put us under pressure and they scored putting themselves back in the game at half time with us leading 11 to 7. The plan at halftime was to score first which we did again thanks to a penalty 3 minutes in, however Uni must have had the same plan as 5 minutes later they too scored. A converted try brought the score to 14-14. Now it was game on. Losing our leader Trefor “The Lion Heart” Thomas and shortly after Travis “Me Eye’s sore” McEntyre did not help. Thankfully Mike Dolan stepped up, in and out to do what he does best run hard and with purpose. This action settled the boys back down and got the structure back on track. After various dropped passes ruing missed opportunities some good pressure and phases were finally rewarded with our finest finisher Ren putting us back in the lead with a try. However the 5 point buffer was not enough. The intelligent tactics applied by Cam Sinden to keep Uni pinned down on their goal line for the majority of the remaining term was extremely pleasing to watch. Then to finish with a quick tap that capped off the impact Matt Suter had on proceedings by scoring the last converted try of the match was the icing on the cake for him and the game, won 26-14. For the victors, Lean Stevens was as hard and tough as elephant biltong, while some of the hits Travis put on would have made the Uni recipients think they were hit by an elephant. The workhorse and winner of the day goes to Neil Smith who spent the day getting stuck into anything green.

In 3rd Grade Gold, Neddies prevailed 21-7 over Uni, however the Cavaliers went down 34-14 to home team Curtin in 3rd Grade Black.

In 4th Grade Gold, the fairytale had to end for the Shamwaris, who lost their first game 15-5, following an unbeaten run of 6 games. Up against a Unit team including a retired Wallaby and general manager of RugbyWA, retired State players and the wisdom of age, the fitness, exuberance and tenacity of youth did not prevail. The Shamwaris gave it their all, right to the very end and caused a few nervous jitters in the Uni camp. A huge thanks to Michael Weir and Callum Sauer for stepping up into the front row after their own games at 3rd Grade and Under 20. The weather conditions were great and both sides ran the ball at every opportunity. Clever scrummaging by Uni caused a few headaches, but our lineout worked well and commitment in defence outstanding. Kennedy’s work rate in the loose was an outstanding feature and whilst many boys head home for some R & R, we will do our best to fill big shoes with other players in the club over the next 4 weeks.

In 4th Grade Black, the away game against Curtin was probably the toughest the Nomads have played in for a couple of seasons. Curtin’s fitter side were also hard in the forwards. The Nomads had to pull out all the skills to wear them down. Smashing runs by ET, Fitzy always driving forward, the Brat yapping at the rear giving directions where needed, led to 4 quick rucks and fast ball out the backs got Blackie over the line in the 25th minute. The Curtin side were constantly pushing up through the centres but some good tackles from Mcclutchie kept the pressure on. Loose ball and drives were meeting head on by POD Spencer with a tackle count around 30. The Brat seized on a chance early in 2nd half and dropped a goal from 30 out to show Blackie how it should be done.
Our forwards kept up the hard school act and saw Clutterz and Shayno make good yards with ball in hand. But Curtin managed a penalty and late try. The Wilko Wizard knew we had to play in Curtin’s 22, putting us far enough out to save the game. A mighty try saving tackle from Magnum with 2 minutes left was probably their last chance (Editors note: we did not have time to verify this comment before going to press). A hard fought win of 10-8 but satisfying our forwards matched it with skill and toughness. Great to see Mike Smith down with a new cheek plate and a brand new set of shiny gumboots which his mum bought over especially from Fred Dagg looking like a Tokoroa lad.

In Colts, RSV Nedlands Blue were a few players short and had to forfeit to Wests. While RSV Nedlands Gold put in a solid effort only to be beaten 18 to 9 by ladder leaders University. Neddies points came from 3 penalty goals to Pat Henning and kept pace with University until they scored in the corner right on the bell of half time. RSV Nedlands again held Uni for most of the second half without being able to cross their line and it was only a few minutes from full time when University scored a second try to take the game beyond doubt. Neddies scrum once again overpowered a heavier opposing pack, however,  we were unable to convert this dominance into sufficient points and unfortunately we were well outplayed at the lineout, where University consistently received clean ball and a platform to attack from. Highlights for Neddies were a leading from the front game from James Oddie (including outstanding kick returns) solid kicking from Pat Henning and Ryan Beatson, a punch –above-your-weight display from man of the match Yeatesy, a good scrounging and cover game from Andrew Veer and a hit of the day from DMac coming off the bench.

U18's ventured up to Iluka to take on Joondalup and were convincing victors 37-3.

Another big weekend in stall for the last match of the first competition round with Neddies back at The Foreshore against Wests. So get down there and show your colours.