Perth-Bayswater first grade suffered their second competition loss to the Kalamunda Bulls for 2008, losing 24-13 at Hartfield on Saturday after leading 13-10 with 15 minutes to play.
After an early bout of aussie rules, Perth-Bayswater held possession to break wide and mauled up, going blind for centre Mike Lee to score in the corner. The conversion missed but the visitors went 5-0 up after 3 minutes. Perth-Bayswater continued to pressure with a stiff breeze behind them but the Bulls went onto attack to decline three penalties, all of them kickable, opting to tap and run but were unable to break through Perth-Bayswater's bustling defence, and the visitors kicked clear. The Bulls grabbed another penalty chance for not binding after 16 minutes and kicked the goal to draw close at 5-3. But Perth-Bayswater kept on coming, and after a Bulls knock on over their 22, the premiers broke blind and number 8 Cale McCort strode down the sideline to score in the corner. Perth-Bayswater were supercharged after recent defeats, forwards and backs ripping into the game with huge energy that left the Bulls struggling to get cohesion into their game. But just before half time the Bulls kicked long to break free and when Perth knocked on in a lineout, Kalamunda spun the ball out to score out wide. They converted from the sideline and it was all square at 10-10 going into the break.
The premiers' big scrum had the Bulls strong pack back-pedalling as they piled on the pressure into the second spell, but their lineouts were erratic. The cost was high as well, the injury-stricken team losing three more players to the physio's attentions. Perth-Bayswater threw everything at the Bulls early in the half, wing Nathan Hunt almost scoring from a kick through after 12 minutes but the ball bounced sideways at the crucial moment. The premiers blew another try minutes later when the ball went to ground with the line wide open. Instead, a scrum penalty after 18 minutes was converted by Perth-Bayswater flyhalf Toby Hohapata from a difficult angle and the premiers inched ahead 13-10. But Kalamunda patient attack and Perth-Bayswater errors combined to give the home side increasing attacking opportunities and a smart snap pass back inside from a free kick led to a try under the bar. They converted the sitter to claim the lead for the first time at 17-13 after 25 minutes. Perth-Bayswater rebounded but the early fire was missing and Kalamunda were soon back on attack. After some creative counter-rucking, Force centre Josh Tatupu showed his class by slicing through two tackles to score beside the posts. Kalamunda converted from in front and the Bulls were in charge at 24-13 with eight minutes to play. Both teams had chances as time ran out but the Bulls were steadier and cruised home for a tough but ultimately solid win. The loss dropped Perth-Bayswater to a close third in the competition.
It is worth remembering that Perth-Bayswater first grade lost both comeptiton games against kalamunda in 2007 but went on to win the semi-final, and eventually, the premiership.
In other games, seconds drew with Kalamunda 3-3, thirds lost 48-14 to ARKs, Under 20s defeated ARKs 20-5 and Under 18s lost to Kalamunda 13-8.
Fifth Grade managed what no other Perth Bayswater side could by winning their match 33-5 against Kalamunda at Hartfield Park on Saturday. It was a display of power play by captain/coach Dwain "The Train" Barr (or 'Sticky Fingers' as the Westaways described him after the match) with no less than four tries in his return from injury, which put the Bulls away. Mike Whitney added a try as well and Shane "Barr Fridge" popped over four conversions to add his name to the score sheet . Another strong performance came from Drew "Von Inga The Winger" who made some telling runs in the first half which almost led to a try for himself but he was just caught in the corner by the cover defence after he had sprinted 60 metres. The next break "Von Inga" made, he chipped a kick in field for "The Train" to dive onto for a try.
Justin "Stumpy" Lamb, Matt "Dummy Spitter" Sefton and Ian "The Rock" Hardwick were working well in the backs while Bushie, Tony and Bert "Two Left Feet" Bothwell were going strong in the forwards making it a hard day at the office for the Kalamunda boys. Even with a penalty count of about 100 against Bushie "It wasn't me, honest ref", we still managed to hold the Bulls to only one score halfway through the first spell. It was the second time in three weeks the team was on the end of a lopsided penalty count and maybe it needs to be looked at. We won't be able to manage that sort of disadvantage in our finals campaign or we will be blown off the paddock by any side with a decent goal kicker. We'll either have to start being smarter or give up cheating if we keep getting caught.