11 July 2010
Perth-Bayswater first grade recorded their first win for 2010 with a surprise 17-9 win over Wests-Subiaco at Pat O'Hara Reserve. The win over seventh-placed Wests was all the more surprising as Wests have been recording good scores lately, to the extent of upsetting competition leaders Nedlands the week before. The result was overdue reward for Perth-Bayswater, who have struggled this year but produced some competitive games along the way and come close to a number of the better teams.
In other games, second grade went down heavily to Wests 63-5, third grade also lost badly 71-0 against Wests, fourth grade drew with Wests 17-17, Under 20s defeated Joondalup 42-10, and Under 18s also lost to Wests 36-3.
Fourths/fifths had to settle for a 17-17 draw with Wests at home on the weekend. On a day when most people found staying at home in the warmth of their living room watching the test match on Fox Sports more inviting than a freezing wet day on the side line watching the heroes of the mighty Black and Whites of Perth Bayswater play the evil forces of the western suburbs, they missed out on some entertaining rugby (thanks to all the team faithful for turning up though). The battle between third-placed Wests and fourth-placed Perth was not only about points but also the psychologicall advantage for when these two sides more than likely meet in the finals.
The game started at break-neck speed that many thought could never last but both teams were there to play. The Perth scrum went very well in the first half and Bert "Two Left Feet” Bothwell was solid as always in the lineout. With Dwain "The Train” Barr having to play at flyhalf there was never going to be much kicking so with ball in hand the boys in black kept moving forward. Perth took every opportunity to crash the ball up and this kept us on the front foot while Wests were reduced to slowing the ball down. This tactic resulted in the ref handing out a steady stream of penalties in Perth’s favor. We got a handy one well within range of goal but instead of taking the advice from the bench to take the shot our brave lads decided to take a tap. This very nearly resulted in a try to Russell but he was held up near the line. A scrum resulted and again we were awarded a penalty but again we turned up our noses at the easy option and took the tap -- but this time Shane “Public” Barr turned the pass back inside to a rampaging Tony Pepperoni who dotted down under the posts, which Shane converted for a seven point lead. From the restart Perth put the pressure on with a good run by Drew Von Winger down the line putting us back down inside Wests' half. We maintained the pressure and the cracks opened in Wests' defence for Pepperoni to exploit with a weaving run to score his second five-pointer of the day and with the conversion a formality Perth took a commanding 14-0 lead. Unfortunately Wests decided to lift and managed a try right on half time to go to the break 12-5 down and still in the match.
The second half saw a much improved Wests side with the addition of half a dozen fresh players (who looked a little like guys from their third grade). Anyway this turned the game and before we knew it they had made some telling forays into our half and after a great run by their very talented flanker and some poor tackling on our part, they scored under the posts, converted for a 14-12 score line. However Copper was having none of this and he charged down the field carrying half the Wests team on his back before a courageous Wests player threw his body at Darren's feet, bringing down our team’s hard man. We got a penalty from the next breakdown which Shane Barr expertly used the wind to fade the ball left to right (yes Dallas, left to right, not right to left like you recommended) for a 17-12 lead. Wests piled on the pressure for the last seven minutes and got a penalty to tie up our game at 17 all. Perth spent the last five minutes defending their line but with Winston solid as a rock in the midfield plus Sione putting in a huge effort at the breakdowns we were always going to hold them out and when Wests put down the pass in the final play of the day the game finished in a fair draw. Finally the team wants to send it congratulations to our very young first grade side on their first win of the season and are confident that it won’t be their last. Well done lads.