18 April 2009
There was a mixture of the good, the bad and the ugly in Perth-Bayswater first grade's season-opening 20-20 draw with Nedlands at Pat O'Hara Reserve on Saturday.
Poor defence and a flat start fell into the very bad category as Nedlands clipped on the early points, scoring a try after six minutes, followed by a conversion and penalty to lead 10-0 afer 20 minutes. Neddies hogged possesion and broke average tackling again to score in the corner minutes later.
Nedlands were unlucky not to be further ahead than their 15-0 half time lead but after the break and no doubt some very terse words from JT and Lex, and a few personnel changes, Perth-Bayswater responded with the customary second half resurgence for some of the good stuff. Dominating second half possession, Perth-Bayswater made up lost ground with a try to replacement back Mark Hill, converted by fullback Gareth Cossey. Then it was time for the ugly with Neddies losing a prop to the sin bin following a dangerous tackle, and Perth-Bayswater capitalised with a penalty and then a try to Nathan Hunt to level the scores at 15-15, which was good. The conversion by Cossey inched Perth-Bayswater ahead 17-15 with 15 minutes on the clock, which was very good, and he added another penalty with just two minutes to play to stretch the lead to 20-15, which was even better.
Then it was time for the very ugly, as extra time stretched on seemingly for hours, and the fancy lads from the foreshore obliged with a last gasp try to again draw even at 20-20. Fortunately the sideline conversion never looked like going over and both teams had to settle for an unsatisfying result.
Man of the Match was number eight Pierre Roberts who was outstanding throughout.
In other games, second grade went down to Nedlands 17-15, third grade won 12-5, fourth grade lost 27-20, under 20s were defeated 17-12 and under 18s drew 15-15.