27 April 2009
Perth-Bayswater knocked another hole in Kalamunda’s premiership defence with a bonus point 34-10 win at Hartfield in Sunday’s match of the round in the WA club rugby competition, sponsored by KWIK Transport and Crane Hire.
The win was built on a near-flawless first half of power rugby where Perth-Bayswater totally dominated territory and possession to score four tries and set up a commanding 24-0 lead.
The Bulls bounced back in the second half and gave the Perth-Bayswater defence an energetic workout with spirited attacking rugby, but it was never going to be enough to claw back the margin.
From the kickoff Kalamunda conceded a penalty but after Perth-Bayswater halfback Toby Hohapata steered the kick wide, flyhalf Sam Moon kicked through from the drop out. The Bulls defence was wrong-footed by the ball and Perth-Bayswater wing Nathan Hunt chased hard to score a try in the corner after three minutes.
Then just three minutes later, Moon kicked high from a free kick beyond the 22 and the Kalamunda defence was again flummoxed playing into the sun and Perth-Bayswater blindside flanker Jarrel Te Kahu claimed the bouncing ball for a try closer to the posts. Hohapata converted and Perth-Bayswater raced to a 12-0 lead.
Perth-Bayswater dominated possession and territory with driving forward play and clever positional kicking, and from a scrum after 16 minutes the Perth-Bayswater backs rewarded their forwards with a sublime set move. Moon launched a long out pass that shot fullback Gareth Cossey into the line and delivered a diving pass to wing PJ Pittman for a flying try in the corner. The conversion missed but the visitors led 17-0 with near total control of play.
Perth-Bayswater kept the pressure on as the half progressed, although Kalamunda broke out briefly once or twice. Just before half time a promising Bulls attack cut loose with the line wide open but it was called back for diving over the ruck and again Moon kicked long. Again the Kalamunda defence was found wanting taking the high kick and Hunt cleaned up the loose ball to race clear for the try. Hohapata converted from a handy position and Perth-Bayswater took a stunning 24-0 lead into the break.
Kalamunda gained more territory and possession in the first six minutes of the second spell than they had in the entire first and hammered the visitors' line, but Perth's defence held firm, kicking clear when the Bulls knocked on.
Kalamunda kept working and increasingly dominated possession, finally gaining a try after 16 minutes when their openside flanker stole Perth-Bayswater maul ball and raced 25 metres down the blindside to score in the corner.
Perth-Bayswater was forced into a defensive role, making errors and conceding free kicks, as Kalamunda ran repeated phases of attack but struggled to crack the visitors' dogged defensive pagttern. Then, with 15 minutes to play, Kalamunda conceded a penalty lineout close to their line and the black forwards drove through, prop Joel Laugeson claiming the try to restore the margin at 29-5.
Kalamunda dominated the closing stages as Perth-Bayswater tired, but the visitors had a late chance with a free kick in Kalamunda's 22. However the ball was knocked on and Kalamunda's wing snatched it and sprinted 70 metres to score at the other end with minutes to play. The conversion attempt bounced off the posts but the Bulls had added a little respectability to the score at 29-10.
The Bulls pressured the visitors with time running out but Perth-Bayswater had the last word with a long kick through, replacement wing Mark Gaskin and lock Brent Murphy combining cleverly for a try to Murphy in the corner in the last move of the game.
Perth-Bayswater coach John ‘J.T.’ Taylor was particularly pleased with the dynamic first half that reversed the team’s reputation as slow starters.
“We wanted to get on the front foot and get in behind them, and that worked today,” he said.
“Our commitment to getting down into their half and playing in their 22, and keeping them there, was very good.
“Everyone knows that Kalamunda can break out at any time and play from anywhere, but we’ve got a new defence system and it’s working.”
Taylor paid tribute to back line general Moon, and his kicking game that had Kalamunda rattled early.
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Brent Murphy doing what he does best in his final game. |
“ We’ve got young players, and new players, and we just had to gel and having Sam Moon back in there helped enormously,” he said.
“He’s a very experienced footballer, and you’ve got to use the elements. I said to him, ‘bomb them and see what happens, put some pressure on’.
“I was a little bit surprised by Kalamunda, they’re usually a pretty composed team, but I don’t worry about them I just worry about us.”
Despite the 24-0 lead, Taylor had a stern warning for his team at half time.
“I said to the boys, ‘ it’s 0-0’”, he said.
“’These guys are quite capable of laying three or four tries on you just like that. Start again, they’ll ask a lot more questions of you in the second half.’”
Taylor was not concerned about his team’s diminished second half role.
“I think you’ve got to give a bit of credit to Kalamunda,” he said.
“They’re a quality team and they’ll beat a lot of teams because they have some quality ball runners. In the second half they probably to two to one possession. But our defence held up pretty good.”
Taylor named Moon and Murphy as his standout players. It was Murphy’s last game with the club as the former Force academy lock is heading to the Warringah club in Sydney to pursue his career at the next level.
Fabulous Fifth Grade (now known as Fourth Grade Black due to the wierdness that is RugbyWA) travelled down to Hartfield to take on the Kalamunda Bulls in round two on Sunday. After consultation with the team hierarchy over a couple of beers it was decided that we would stick to referring to ourselves as fifth grade for now until we get used to this fourth grade thing. Anyway back to the match report.
The team had a good turnout considering it was a long weekend, so we had plenty of reserves which came in handy as the game was played in very summery conditions which kept our Wonder Water Woman "Robbie" very busy. The game kicked off and it was soon evident that the superior team was wearing black and white. With our forwards working well and especially our lose trio of Tony Peperoni, Handsome Danny Vella and Conrad "Comrade" Kovacs, we dominated the breakdowns. Under this unrelenting pressure the Bulls defence finally broke when Darren"Copper" Horne, acting as first runner from the breakdown, broke through for the team's first try under the posts. This was converted by Shane "Barr Fridge" and we had a handy 7-0 lead. Our next try was the try of the day when number 8Handsome Danny Vella picked the ball up from the back of the scrum and drove forward on the open side before feeding it to openside flanker "Comrade" Kovacs who then fed the inside backs. Flyhalf Dunny and inside centre Stumpy moved the ball quickly to centre Dwain "The Train" Barr who spotted a gap out wide so large that even Japie's head would have fitted through it. Train put the pedal to the metal and sped off to score a fifty metre try under the posts ... which of course little brother Barr Fridge converted for a 14-0 lead. Dwain was again in the action shortly after when a Bulls mistake allowed the big centre to gather up the ball and score his second again under the posts for a 21-0 halftime lead.
The second half started off the same as the first with Perth controlling the ball and it was not long before constant pressure on the Bulls line yielded a penalty try which Barr Fridge converted taking the score to 30-0. Kalamunda finally had something to cheer about when they scored an unconverted try to get on the scoreboard at 30-5. Perth was not to be denied when a bit of individual skill by Ian "Dunny" Dunn saw him regather a grubber kick he had put through and dive over the line. Since this try was not under the posts our kicking star Barr Fridge had his work cut out and promptly missed the kick. Can all team members please remember to score all tries under the posts so Barr Fridge can keep his average up. Other good performances of note were by Bert "Two left Feet" Bothwell in the lineout. Bert no doubt was out to impress his mum and dad who are here on holiday from NZ. Sam was steady at fullback while Crash Test Dummy "Bushy" was ever present around the park while irritating the hell out of the opposition.