Round 12 of FMG Premiership rugby saw our teams back home, with our Colts enjoying a bye and a well-earned rest for some weary bodies. Our three Senior Men’s Grades taking on Joondalup, with bonus-point wins on the menu in Premier and Third Grade to keep our finals aspirations on track; whilst our Women were taking on Southern Lions. Round 12 also provided the club the opportunity to formally recognise and celebrate our First Nations people, especially those directly involved in our club as players and supporters, in a special NAIDOC Round. The club marked the occasion with a limited-edition one-off jersey designed by Marcia McGuire of Maali Aboriginal Designs, along with a smoking ceremony and rousing welcome to Country.
As always, Perth Bayswater Rugby Union Club wishes to acknowledge the custodians of this land, the Wadjuk (Perth region) people of the Noongar nation and their Elders past, present and emerging. We wish to acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and the contribution they make to our club, the life of this city and this region.
Starting with Round 12 of the Women’s Community Grade kicking off at 12:15 vs. Southern Lions on home soil. This was a tough, hard fought game with Southern Lions advancing to an early lead despite our desperate defence. The physicality of Southern Lions was not able to be matched by a much smaller Bayswater team, resulting in Southern Lions coming away with a 52-27 win. Despite the score, the ladies played the game in great spirit, showing determination and implementing skills gleaned at training. The ladies have grown enormously as a team, with game play improving every week. It is clear that the ladies’ dedication and training is paying off. The Southern Lions team showed great humility by hanging around at the club to enjoy a lunch put on by the Baysie women. It is a great sign for the developing Women’s Community Grade competition to see the two teams come together to break bread after a hard-fought game. The primary objective for this week was for our Ladies to score five tries within the game. This was achieved with our number-one try scorer Bridget Meade taking away three of the tries. Well done also to Jaymee Park who ended the game with two of her own. Shout-out to player of the day Julie Cappellano who made some extraordinary tackles and played in true Baysie style supporting her teammates on the field.
Starting our coverage of our Men’s Round vs Joondalup with Third Grade, our boys had the best of the day’s weather with the dark and ominous clouds building overhead holding their deluge for the later games. The dry track afforded us the opportunity to play with ball in hand, and test Joondalup’s defence in wide channels, however after a rather tense first half which saw the scores locked at 7-7, it appeared this was an opportunity we were not interested in taking. Knowing the boys needed a win, and ideally a bonus point win, in order to keep pace with the top end of the table, there were a few concerned faces amongst the building crowd at half time. But whatever Robbie said at half time (or managed to slip into our boys’ oranges) had the desired effect immediately with Allan Vaiuta crossing in the first minute of the second stanza, opening a lead that we never relinquished. Perth Bayswater, managed to run in a further four tries, to Mark Hill (47’), try-scoring machine Kainn McHenry (49’), Dylan Tamihana (55’) and Washington Munetsi (61’), exquisitely set-up by Rhys Paul (so much so that he has actually been given credit of the try in Rugby Xplorer – sorry Simba😊 ). Despite not finding himself on the score sheet, Damo Kuklinski had one of his finest matches of the season, with a number of surging, jinking runs, turning the poor Joondalup defence inside-out… The second half onslaught secured us the bonus point and a comfortable win, and sees us move into 4th place on the ladder a, point behind Cottesloe ahead of our clash at Harvey Field this weekend. Final score Perth Bayswater, 38, Joondalup 7.
The next game up is Reserve Grade, looking to go back-to-back for the first time this season after a scratchy last start win vs Rockingham. After a cagey and even start to the game, it was our boys who found themselves first on the score sheet, with an exquisite team try finished off by 13 Cam Bell. The move was started 30m out from our line with Joondalup on attack, but strong pressure from Chedz on the ball carrier saw him try to slip an offload that was intercepted by Ghost. Quick ball from the turnover saw us move the ball two-wide from the ruck for Daniel Spina to carry strongly and interest enough defenders to create some space out wide for our backs. The ball first wen to Captain Sam Thornley, who slipped an offload to Pousea who carried for 30m before finding Thompson on his outside who did well to stay in the field of play and keep the ball alive. Sam Faoagali got his hands on the ball for the second time in the movement and managed to shrug off multiple defenders on a surging run that saw him pulled down 5m from the line. Chedz then took a run and nearly burrowed over finishing 1m from the line. James Rameka seeing the numbers out wide called for the ball, and after getting his hands on it found Cam who strolled over for an easy put down. Sublime! Our second try, also in the first half, came on the back of a quick pick and go from Cheyden, seeing the opportunity with a yawning chasm between defenders at the breakdown, and making 20m before drawing the fullback and passing to Kinners, running a perfect halfback’s support line who touched own directly under the posts, opening a healthy 15-0 lead with the successful conversion. With 10 minutes left to play in the first half the rain started to fall, which significantly limited both sides ability to run the ball and for us to play the same expansive style we had enjoyed so far.
After playing almost the whole first half without the ball, it was Joondalup who started the second act the stronger. A strong break saw them move the ball deep into our half, and great patience and control over the resulting phases saw Joondalup continue to probe our defences looking for an opening. Their opportunity finally came from a well weighted grubber kick into the in-goal, with Cam Bell copping an unfair bounce and unable to ground it, the Joondalup chaser was the one who managed to ground the ball first. The successful conversion moving the score to 15-7 in our favour, much closer than it perhaps deserved to be based on the run of play. Any thoughts of a Joondalup comeback and upset win were quickly extinguished a few minutes later though, when on the back of a clean ball from a scrum on the Joondalup 22m, Kinners found recent signing and replacement 10 Paula Folau, wearing the unfamiliar 16 jersey, who angled a cross field kick that dropped right onto the Joondalup left winger as Thompson and Nathan Hardwick came haring through in chase. The ball spat out like a greasy bar of soap and directly into the arms of Nathan who managed to flop over for the easiest of tries. Perth Bayswater 20, Joondalup 7 was how the afternoon would end, as the deteriorating weather continued to make things difficult for both teams. Other significant call outs from the game were the welcome returns of Harris Tuhakaraina and Aidan Mcdonagh, no doubt both will be pushing for selection in our Premier Grade squad in the coming weeks as both make it back to full fitness. Looking forward to Cottesloe at Harvey Field this week, as we look to make it 3 from 3 prior to the competition split. One wonders what could have been for the boys this season had a few of those close results vs. ‘Soaks, UWA and Kalamunda fallen in our favour.
After a moving welcome to country and NAIDOC Round ceremony, Joe Annan led our boys out in their deadly Indigenous jerseys to take on Brothers Joondalup. With regular backline General Otu Mausia called up to represent the ‘Ikale Tahi in the Pacific Nations Cup, Tav Meade would be steering the ship this week, with some fellow name Reesjan Pasitoa named to make his Senior debut off the bench. Reesjan is a true ‘Baysie Boy’, having played his first game for the club as a 5-year-old. So, the whole club were excited to see him make his homecoming, and were hopeful that he would not let such a big occasion overawe him (although just quietly I think he will do ok 😉). A rolled ankle on Thursday night saw Ben Buist scratched this week, with Max Veech elevated into the starting Loosehead role, and Owen Milburn coming onto the bench. A wrist injury and illness through the week also saw the in-form Brandon Olow start from the pine, and the embarrassment of riches we have in our loose forwards at the moment saw us take the field with the fearsome combination of Ty Newsome-Smith, Mathew Faoagali, and Manu Tofilau in the 6, 7, 8, with the likes of Nuku Pauta on the bench, Aidan Mcdonagh returning to fitness through the Reserves and Jake Buist and Joe Annan covering our shortage of Locks – how is that for some depth of talent!
Despite the rain and greasy conditions both teams started brightly, looking to play with ball in hand and in the most part executing well. When the ball did go to ground, the Baysie scrum looked to have the upper hand, and it was from this strong platform that the first opportunity presented itself. With a scrum feed 30m out from the Joondalup line the Joondalup scrum faltered after not taking the hit. The referee requested a reset, and this time Max Veech was able to get underneath their tight head, popping him up and earning the penalty advantage. Manu then took the ball from No. 8, passing to Josh and looping behind to take the ball blind side and beating the Joondalup scrum half’s feeble attempt to tackle and surging to the 22m line before find Matthew Faoagali looming on support back on the inside who crossed the line 5m to the right of the posts. Tavish added the extras, the early score helping to settle any nerves the boys may have had coming in. The next 15-minute period of the game saw an even contest between both sides, which was primarily played between the two 22m lines. Both teams defended well, and we found it difficult to assert ourselves onto the contest as much as we would have liked to. However, credit to our boys, they stuck to their game plan and stayed patient rather than trying to chase the game, and as we approached the end of the first quarter of the game our second opportunity presented itself. With possession on the Joondalup 22m, Tavish turned Max on the inside, and a strong carry attracted the attention of 4 Joondalup defenders. Quick ball from Josh to Tav saw Tavish able to play Chris Saulala short, who was able to crash through another feeble attempt from the Joondalup 9and set-up more front-foot ball 10m out from the Joondalup line with their line struggling to get back into shape. From here the ball slowed, and the immediate opportunity passed, but another strong charge from Max Veech set us up well to go to the left again, and with Joondalup’s defence scrambling to cover the wider threat Matt Faoagali spotted the chance in close and with a quick pick and go crashed over under the posts from 5m out.
Matt had a sniff of a hattrick 10-minutes later when another strong Perth Bayswater charge put us back on attack deep in the Joondalup 22m. The move started with live-wire wing Liam Becker fielding a kick within our 22m and shaping to kick, but instead he stepped back inside off his right foot evading the chaser and carried the ball to within 3m of halfway. From the resulting phase Tavish found Chris Saulala mid field with a tired and broken defensive line in front of him, so Chris did what Chris does, shredding 3 tackles on his 20m run before finding Danny in support, who in turn linked with Tele Teo, who was strong into contact, and then offloading to Matt Faoagali who was almost through a last-gasp tackle 8m form the line… Over the next few phases we worked the ball in tight back towards the posts, and Joondalup having not learned their lesson earlier from Matt’s second try, left the door open for Max to pick and go from close out to stroll over without any real defensive pressure. The try was a just reward for Max who was arguably best on ground in that first half, with further highlights not yet covered including:
- A lung-busting-run in support down the far-right touch line in support of an Andrew line break
- Going bang-bang with two textbook tackles around our 22m with Joondalup hot on attack – they did not run there a third time…
- A number of surging carries in tight delivering quick front-foot ball
- A heap of work around the breakdown cleaning and securing ball
Half time saw a change in personnel, with Reesjan coming on for Andrew Ramsden, Sam George replacing Danny and Nuku replacing Ty Newsome-Smith. The mission for the second half was simple: control the game, pick-up one more try at least for the bonus point, ice the win and keep them scoreless. It did not take long for us to tick that 4th try off the list. From a Baysie scrum-feed 5m Reesjan took the ball to the line before turning it inside to Chris Saulala at pace, and they were not going to deny him from there. Our 5th followed soon after, again off a dominant scrum with Nuku braking from the back of the scrum and then linking with Stopsy to cross beneath the sticks – the floodgates were now open. With it looking increasingly unlikely that they would get anything out of the match Joondalup started to get a little frustrated, and though they might try and at least win the fight? Unfortunately for them, picking Tavish and Brandon was not their brightest move, with our lads quickly convincing them that sort of niggle was not going to be a smart move…
We controlled the back end of the game well, crossing for a further two tries and keeping our line intact, and running out comfortable 45-0 winners. With the win and bonus point secured, it was mission completed. Well done boys. With that one in the bag, we move to Harvey Field to take on Cottesloe in the last round before the split looking to consolidate 3rd spot on the ladder.
If you are not yet on the bandwagon, it is time to jump on now, because these boys can go all the way this year!
Baysie Hard!!
