With just two competition rounds left to be played in the 2009 season, the race for the 1st Grade minor premiership is going down to the wire. While Saturday’s results saw Nedlands edge another rung up the ladder into third position, all the teams in the top four are in with a chance of finishing in first position. For Neddies, that means Saturday’s game against University – the last home game of what has been a fantastic 75th anniversary season - will be all the more crucial. Bonus points could well be the decider.

The Rockingham 1st Grade team came to The Foreshore on Saturday with the knowledge they were the last team to beat Nedlands, back in round seven of the 1st Grade competition. Neddies were out to square the ledger - and extend their winning streak to nine games. And the home team, missing star centre Zane Houia, was the first to score when nippy fullback Jimmy Vakaruru crossed for the game’s first try to take a 5-0 lead. But Rockingham signalled early on they meant business, crossing for an equaliser soon after.

In a tight encounter, Colt Warren Black, deputising for Zano, was next to score for the home team, with a conversion and penalty goal from Mike “Devo” Denton giving Neddies a handy 15-5 buffer at the half time break. When Devo Dents knocked over a second penalty goal early in the second half, the team formerly known as the Royal Blues looked to be in control at 18-5. That was even more the case after halfback and skipper Nathan Roberts scored his customary weekly try, which Devo Dents dutifully turned in to a 25-5 lead. With three tries already in the bag, the obvious goal for Neddies at that point was the score a fourth try to secure a valuable bonus point.

But Rockingham were playing to another script. Amid some chaotic scenes in which three yellow cards were dished out, the boys in purple rallied to rattle off two tries of their own tries to reduce the margin to 25-17 and give Nedlands a decent fright. In the end, that’s where the scoring finished, with the four competition points enabling Neddies to leap-frog Wanneroo into fourth position. A bonus point sure would have been handy as it would have left Neddies level-pegging on 57 points with Cottesloe in second place. Rockingham are a lot better than their position on the ladder would indicate – and the boys in purple could do Neddies a big favour by knocking off Cottesloe next Saturday.

While the previous Ladies’ Day weekend was hard to match, it was great to see the support from The Third Half supporters club, who had been primed with a few beers and a steak earlier on, along with an insightful speech from injured halfback Sam Hutcherson about how Neddies compared with his former club, the Warringah Rats.

The Nedlands 2nd Grade team’s undefeated season continued apace on Saturday with an impressive 62-0 win over Rockingham. At half time we led only 15-0 and were generally unconvincing. Rocky never really looked like scoring themselves as our urgency, commitment and organisation in defence never wavered, but in attack our execution and accuracy was lacking.

At half time the coaches asked the team for a more committed and patient effort in attack, and that is exactly what was delivered. Neddies piled on 47 points in the second spell from well structured team play. Pleasing outcomes from this match included an excellent goal kicking effort by flyhalf and vice-captain Chris "Wagga" Doherty, another strong and controlled game from Phil "Ranga" Scharff, the outstanding form of Joey Egan at No. 8, the dominance of our lineout jumpers and the composure of our excellent back three of Harry "Chopper" Cogin, Bryce "Bad" Penny and Jody "Jeeps" Fauth.

After the match, while enjoying a beer together in the sheds, the team was treated to an inspiring speech from club stalwart and all round Neddies legend
Rex Julian, who urged the boys to keep up their intensity and focus and to seize the opportunities that their hard work throughout the season has now presented to them.

In 3rd Grade,  both teams came away with 5 competition points, as they both had byes.

While the table-topping Nomads had a forfeit from Mandurah in 4th Grade Black as they couldn't get the numbers to play. Magnum was offered to boost those numbers but got turned down as they said an Abba look-alike wasn't welcome. Other things were said but we couldn’t print that. The boys all turned up for a lunch then supported the 1st Grade at home making it a Nomad minor premiership celebration. The next two games are top of table clashes making it a good Finals rehearsal.

In 4th Grade Gold, the Mighty Shamwari’s had a tough game on Saturday. Rocky were motivated and had a few new faces – we suspected a few of their 3rd graders would be down. In the first few minutes Stu and James suffered major concussions, diving for the ball simultaneously, this did unsettle the team and we made a few uncharacteristic errors. Chris Naylor and Allen Breytenbach contributed and James Oddie at Prop – having played 2 earlier games – stood up and made the scrum solid and strong.  The flu got the better of Caveman and Vegas struggled with understanding some of the ref’s decisions. With 15 seconds to go, the ref found a penalty for Rocky in front and sadly we suffered our second loss of the second round, 5 - 6 .Greg Howe was magnificent and now to next week and top of the table clash with Mitch Hardy’s Uni boys. Platinum tickets are sold out, a few Gold seats left. But get in fast.

In Colts, Nedlands Gold continued their push for a top-four finish with a 25-10 win over ARKs, though Nedlands Blue were swamped 72-7 by Kalamunda. The Under-18s scored two tries apiece against Rockingham Gold but ended up going down 12-10.

So next week’s round against University at home is vital across the grades as Neddies again looks to be represented across the grades in the finals. So get down for the last home game of the 75th anniversary season and show your colours!