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Round 10 Wrap Up
29-06-2009
While it was the performance of teenage winger Matt “Boots” Venter which caught the eye against Wests last week, it was a more familiar face grabbing the limelight in Saturday’s all-important Round 10 home game against Perth-Bayswater. That familiar face was inside centre Mike “Devo” Denton, who was into everything. Devo Dents put in some more of those bone-crunching tackles which have become a hallmark of his game since his much-deserved 1st Grade recall. Perhaps as importantly, he also ran hard and straight with the ball in hand to set up plenty of quality phase possession for Neddies. And if that wasn’t enough, Devo Dents also kicked five conversions with that distinctive “Robo-Cop” kicking style and scored a try. For that effort, Devo Dents will join Boots as the latest cult hero for the Neddies supporters club, The Third Half. Onya son.
Speaking of The Third Half, a big rap is also due to Dave & Sandra Allport for the annual Sponsors Day down at The Foreshore, which was another great success despite the weather. Dave is, of course, the dry-humoured sponsorship manager while Sandra is one of the founders of The Third Half, which now boasts north of 60 paid-up members including Australian 7s star Will Brock. As the absent Hulkster might well have noted on Saturday, Dave and Sandra were “Allports in a storm”. Don’t give up your day job Hulk. Great to see so many of the supporters and sponsors booking seats for the annual Neddies Test lunch on Friday August 28. Of course, outside the Leeuwin Concert, Versace’s house-warming and Jarrod Gardner’s recent 40th, the Neddies Test lunch is considered the highlight of Perth’s social calendar.
Back on the hallowed Foreshore turf, where the 1st Grade took the field with something of a reshuffled backline on Saturday after star back Barry Mansfield’s season came to an end the previous week when he busted his shoulder against Wests. And coach Tony Ball could be looking for further back-up after halfback Sam Hutchison was stretchered from the field in the first half and taken to hospital in an ambulance with what looked to be a serious leg injury. Hutchy had just scored a great try from a scorching break to level the scores at 5-5 after Perth, playing with first use of the howling wind, had snuck in for an early try.
However, by halftime Nedlands’ dominance was showing on the scoreboard as tries to big James Cullimore and Zane Houia gave the home team a handy 21-5 buffer. There was no lapse of concentration in the second half as the team formerly known as the Royal Blues (before the introduction of the new retro playing strip) piled on three more tries to replacement fullback Jimmy Vakaruru and a second to Cully, capped off by a try to that man Devo Dents. It was mission accomplished for Neddies, with the 40-5 scoreline and the bonus point elevating Neddies to fifth position on the ladder within striking distance of the four. The result leaves Nedlands in a position to dictate its own destiny. It’s now a straight forward equation – keep winning – starting with Palmyra next Saturday. While the loss of Hutchy is a blow for Neddies, the combination between skipper Nathan Roberts at halfback and Cam Sinden and 10 looked slick.
The 2nd Grade had a disruptive start when the expected return from injury of Juan "JP" Pretorius did not eventuate after JP’s hammy played up during the warm-up. Neddies were first on the board against Perth when vice captain Travis “the Wrecking Ball” McEntyre split the Perth defence to score near the sticks. By halftime Neddies was ahead 17-0 after workaholic loosie Neil Smith had scored a try and the ever-reliable Ren D’Alberto had added the extras. Some fresh legs came on at halftime, the most prominent being the soon-to-be-married Allan Breytenbach, who shrugged off ill-health during the week with a barnstorming second half. Barry “Tooheys Extra” Dry, who has replaced the departed Matt Suter on the flank, was next to score, followed by Tobias Hoskins. With Bryce “Bad” Penny showing some heroics at fullback with some try-saving tackles, Neddies took out the match 29-5 to remain on the top of the log in 2nd Grade.
In 3rd Grade Gold, a Neddies team which featured comeback kid Justin “Busty” Webster came up against the unbeaten Mandurah and came away with a 13-7 win to consolidate their position near the top of the table. In 3rd Grade Black, the Cavaliers kept in the winners circle with a 36-10 win over Perth. No match reports from either game though unfortunately.
In 4th grade Gold, the Shamwaris turned out against a fairly slick Mandurah team and looked to be in trouble early on. Thanks to back up from other grades it was a makeshift team that introduced themselves to stand in coach Dave McKnight. Not a bad stand in !! Against the run of play Neddies scored first, Mandurah then lifted the tempo and got onto the front foot into the strong wind and looked like they were going to run over the top of the make shift team. The Neddies spirit came to the fore. Great team effort all round with from Stef Booth, Greg Howes, Olly Balssac and player of the day Dave Irvine leading the boys Neddies took it right back to the Pirates. Great to see Ryan Swan, all 75 kg of him, step into the front row and linouts. Unlucky to loose possession in the last play of the game with line open the boys went down 19-22.
In 4th Grade Black, the table-topping Nomads knew they where in for a tough game against second placed Perth without play-maker Wilko Wizard. The Nomads struck first with Gadget getting a ball out wide and with his skinny antelope-like body perfectly streamlined for pace into the wind made it look easy. The forwards picked up the pace and created multiple phases giving JR and Spence plenty to run onto. Perth came back with a try but three minutes later a Perth high ball was retrieved and run back into the Nomads forwards, who where on fire. After some more clean outs and drives Blackie got through and dived at the line but was short although his Tubby Telly mid section enabled him to bounce over the line to score. In the second half Reggie in the front row, looking meaner than ever, helped keep Perth pegged down, while Dan Cockburn put a couple of Garry Owens up to prove locks can kick. Finally a perfect banana kick from halfback Piccolo put the Nomads on the Perth line once again. All day the back row of Fitzy, ET, Mainsey and Fiji where on that loose ball, so it was fitting one them, Fiji, got over for our third try in the dying minutes of the game to give the Nomads a hard fought win of 17 to 7.
RSV Nedlands 20s Gold returned to form on Saturday defeating a determined Wests- Subiaco by 13 to 5. Unfortunately Wests call for uncontested scrums from the outset reduced one of RSV Neddies most potent weapons and may have helped create an early lack of focus from Neddies, who tended to play more as individuals for the first 20 minutes of the game. However, when the boys (occasionally) did play their patterns they combined well, breaking the advantage line, especially through the West s backline. RSV Nedlands scored two tries – one an excellent example of support play by James Oddie who crossed near the corner following a committed charge down of a West’s kick, the other by Tim Carr following sustained pressure from Neddies. Tim Carr converted one try and (with a little help from a stiff breeze) impressed the Nedlands supporters with a towering penalty goal from the 50M mark. Best players for Nedlands were (man of the match) Tobias Hoskins, James Oddie, Callum Sauer, Tim Carr, Warren Black and Rob (the machine) Carter.
The RSV 20s Blue team headed down to Cottesloe to play Wanneroo in a force 10 gale that made the Foreshore look like the teddy bears picnic. With Wanneroo only having 11 men they duly forfeited with a game of 10’ ensuing. Goal kicking was abandoned after the posts blew over early in the game, with both the Neddies locks also needing to stay on their haunches for fear of blowing over (that’s their excuse anyway!). Neddies raced ahead 5 tries to 1 by halftime, with Simon Brett carving up from 10 & Angus, Ronan & Aidan making easy metres with every touch.
Oli Green showed his versatility with some dynamic runs including a show & go that saw him dart clear 5m, only to be run down in the next 5m. Money man Castles (flown in from Karratha), Cargill, Robertson & Macqueen all belied their lack of training with some dogged tackling & promotion of the football.
With troops arriving in the 2nd half from the Gold game, Tino & Danny played for Wanneroo & Johnno, Matthewson & Pat had cameos that brought more tries our way. Final count was about 8 tries to 2...
The Under18s rallied late in the game but went down 12-19 to Perth.
The overall result of five wins and two losses was enough to give Neddies a commanding lead in the Club Championship which, of course, has been tucked away at The Foreshore for the past three seasons. And that’s where it’s staying.
Round 11 on Saturday sees Neddies head to Tompkins Park to take on Paly. So get down there and show your colours!
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