2 May 2009
Perth-Bayswater downed Cottesloe first grade 30-10 at Harvey Field on Saturday.
A much improved Cottesloe dominated a flat Perth-Bayswater first grade for the opening 20 minutes and stole a tighthead to score a try to lead 5-0. A thumping tackle by lock Kere Pirikahu turned the tide and the men in black started dominating in the loose, controlling the remainder of the half with good combinations between backs and forwards. Perth-Bayswater managed to get in behind the opposition and scored tries to wing Nathan Hunt and centre Israel Stone, with two conversions and a penalty by halfback Toby Hohapata to lead 17-5 at half time.
Perth-Bayswater opened the second spell with the wind behind them and pressured Cottesloe's defence with high kicks. Hunt grabbed his second try when ruck ball went wide and he chipped, regathered and scored. Hohapata kicked a second penalty goal and wing Mark Gaskin wrapped up the match and secured the bonus point when he scored the final try after regathering a high kick. Cottesloe had the last word with a consolation try but the result was a solid win for Perth, dominating most of the game and withstanding Cottesloe's creditable attack with outstanding defence. Pirikahu was named man of the match.
In a disappointing day for other grades, second grade went down to Cottesloe 34-12, third grade lost to Joondalup 31-17, fourth grade defeated Joondalup 42-0, under 20s lost to Cottesloe 17-10 and under 18s defeated Cottesloe 25-0.
Fabulous Fifths thumped Joondalup 42-0 at Iluka on Saturday. Six tries were scored in all with Sefto and Dwain scoring two each, and Copper and Shane one each; while Dwain and Shane Barr shared three conversions apiece (good to see that the lads followed last week's instructions and scored all tries under or next to the posts).
Playing in hot conditions for the third week running, Perth were straight into attack and this soon produced the first try of the day when Matt "Dummy Spitter" Sefton sliced through the defence and scored next to the posts. This was followed by a try by Shane "Barr Fridge" who took a quick tap when awarded a free kick just out from the posts and scampered over for a try. Not to be outdone Sefto used some good second phase ball provided by forwards Barney, Cliff "Man Boobs" Mataseni and Dermot, just to name a few, to again slice through the defence and score his second try of the half. This was converted and we went to half time with a 21-0 lead. This lead could have been less if "Man Boobs" had not stepped up to tackle the biggest player in the Joondalup side after a fearless Bert "Two Left Feet" Bothwell had done the biggest fake tackle in resent memory. Bertie has been coaching son Cole's U7 rugby team in our juniors and the effort Bert put in on the Number 8 was very much like what the little kids do at times when there is a giant kid in the other team and they are a little scared to tackle him.
The second half started with wholesale changes to the team as all reserves needed a bit of game time. With the wind and sun at our backs it was time to use the big boot of Phil "Legend of the Valleys" Oliver to keep us in Joondalup's 22 for basically the whole of the second half. Joondalup defended well but conceded another three tries with Dwain "The Train" Barr bursting his way over for two while Darren "Cooper" Horne added another one when he showed the power and strength which makes him the most feared meter maid on the beat in Northbridge late on a Saturday night (unlike our premier who ventured out at the dangerously late hour of 8pm to see what all the fuss is about -- Colin try it at 1.00am next time). We could have had four tries if "The Fonz" had gone for the corner instead of unselfishly looking to pass it back infield. Fonz, you should know by now in this team you never ever pass it that close to the line. Fonz was given the jumpers to wash after the game as punishment for this unselfish act. The game ended with Dwain converting his second try and a well deserved 42-0 victory. Good to see the return on Dallas "The Star" Godlieb to the side, although there were some unkind calls from the sideline (Westaway Gang) of "Fabio" every time Dallas got the ball. Something to do with Dallas's lovely new flowing locksg … he always was the pretty winger.