1 August 2010
Perth-Bayswater first grade veered from threatening to victims again with a heavy 48-12 loss to an in form Kalamunda team at Pat O'Hara Reserve on Saturday.
In other games, second grade lost to Kalamunda 33-12, third grade suffered a record thrashing by Kalamunda 106-0, fourth grade lost to Kalamunda 26-17, Under 20s defeated Curtin Uni 87-3 and Under 18s defeated Kalamunda 26-19. The women's team defeated Kalamunda 50-0.
Filthy Fourths continued to stumble towards finals time on Saturday afternoon against the hungry Bulls from Kalamunda. After a fierce 15 minute opening period, Kalamunda scored first using their well-organised lineout for a try on the back of a good rolling maul, and some snipes around the fringes leaving the blindside winger to dance his way around the Perth defence and dot down under the posts. Apart from a nice set play which saw Dwain "The Train" Barr unleashed down the right flank, resulting in him tripping on his own boot laces with the try line seemingly open in front of him, the backline was struggling to get started, and numerous kicking errors had the boys permanently camped in their own half, and getting through plenty of defence. Thursday night training saw the forwards hit the scrum machine (there must have been a carton of beer hidden on it somewhere), and tidy up their lineout, however it wasn’t showing, with Perth turning over plenty of lineout ball. "Handsome Danny" Vella and Barney "Looney Tunes" McGoon were leading the forwards while Phil was providing good service from the base of the scrum, and after Aleema absolutely snapped the opposition centre in half (earning the poor little Bull a rest on the sideline), Perth set about attacking the Bulls line. After fielding a kick midfield, Shane "Barr Fridge" scooted down the short side, and a clever little kick ahead with seemingly no room to move saw him regather and flick the ball inside in one motion to a rampaging Sione, who shifted the ball further in field to Bert "Two Left Feet" Bothwell who covered the remaining 20 metres to dot down under the posts. Barr Fridge knocked over the conversion from right in front, and it was 7-7. Kalamunda weren’t done though, and on the stroke of half time their flyhalf showed some toe down the right hand flank, managing to do what many others have failed to do this year, and evade the cover defence of "The Trai" to score. The conversion was unsuccessful, and it was 12-7.
The oranges arrived and gave a chance for Perth to regroup and set themselves for a crucial 30 minutes in their season. However the heads were down, and with no clear passion and desire to fix the situation, it was clear that they were always going to be up against it. Perth opened the scoring in the second half after some nice lead up work by Jeff The Maori and Matt Spew down the left hand wing, managed to find "The Train" running inside in support, and left him a jinking, weaving run to the tryline evading several defenders. Barr Fridge converted successfully and it was 14-12 Perth. Kala were starting to get a roll on, and Perth were dragging their heels. It certainly didn’t help with the ref (who had a pretty good day for the best part of it) making two decisions that left all and sundry scratching their heads. Firstly, a dirty little Kalamunda forward decided to wind back the clock and took the rules into his own hands dancing all over the back of Barr Fridge as he attempted to roll clear of the tackle. While many would prefer it to be part of the game, rucking has been outlawed for a number of years now, and should surely have resulted in a yellow card. The penalty was awarded, and Barr Fridge recovered to land the penalty from 30 metres out in front. 17-12. The second amazing call resulted after a Kalamunda kick bobbled around in the Perth in goal area somehow managing to avoid Jeff The Maori at fullback,and Barr Fridge led the Bulls chasers to the ball. After clearly grounding the ball, the Kala players yelled and yahooed claiming they had grounded it to which the referee inexplicably fell for, awarding the try. The conversion was successful, and Perth were now trailing 19-17. Time was fast running out, and commitment levels were looking low amongst the men in black. Trying to run it from inside their own 22, the ball was turned over in the ruck, and Kala scooted away to score a converted try on fulltime, denying Perth Bayswater a bonus point for losing within 7 points.
The fourths weren’t quite as lucky with other results this week, and with Cottesloe racking up a win to put them into the four, Perth was relegated to fifth on points differential. The lack of bonus points throughout the season is hurting the boys. Kalamunda are snapping at their heels also, only one point behind Cott and Perth. With a testing game this week against Associates at home, and then travelling to the foreshore to take on the kids from Nedlands, this weekend is a must-win game. If the boys are serious about playing finals footy, they will need to find a new attitude and show some true determination and teamwork.
Finally, the team hosted a Mexican night at the club on Saturday. Tequila flowed in the form of slushies, and nachos was the food choice of the night. A good time was had by all and the team would like to give special thanks to the following team mates who organised the evening -- Bert, Fonz, Pepperoni, Dallas, Glen and Robbie get a huge pat on the back for all their hard work. I’m sure some photos of the night will follow shortly.