18 May Round 5 Review
Round 5 – Match Report – 1st Grade.
The Vikings were taking on the Uni-North Owls, with the players greeted with a lush playing surface on a cracking day at the ANU North oval. With the same team as their last outing, apart from the late withdrawal of half back Seamus Smith, the men in Red were looking to maintain their winning ways and would run out convincing winners against the students.
The Vikings were quickly out of blocks to open the scoring after 5 minutes of play, with a slick try following some smart passing that saw fleet footed fullback Lennix Tovo slicing through to then offload to the ever present, Lachie Hooper to dive over close to the posts. JD Lealiifano added the extras for 7 to 0 lead for the Vikings. Flying Fijian winger Max Ravouvou would then capitalise on an Owl’s fumble to scoot 20 metres to plant the ball over the line for JD to convert to see lead double for the Redmen. The Owls were next to trouble the scorers with a 5 pointer of their own with 20 minutes on the clock for a 14 to 5 scoreline in favour of the visitors. The Redmen struck back quickly that would see Titi Nofogatotoa grab a converted try from a great forward driving maul from a lineout. The Owls then returned serve to score their own driving maul strike to close the gap to 21 to 12. Following some more controlled forward play and drive close to the line, Sila Titiuti would crash his way over for JD to make it 4 from 4 conversions that saw the Vikings take a very handy 28 to 12 lead going into the half time break.
The 2nd half began with the Vikings continuing to dominate the forward exchanges but were unable to take advantage of some driving mauls close to the student’s line. Play settled down with both team’s defensive line remaining intact before a penalty goal to JD for the Redmen to extend the lead to 19 points with plenty of time remaining. The Owls would then grab a converted try to get back into the match with the scoreboard showing 31 to 19 in favour of the Redmen, with around 13 minutes to play. The Vikings lifted the tempo with Junior Time-Taotua scooting over following a great pass from centre partner Joe Wadman. Some more forward controlled driving play saw Baden Godfrey ice the game with a try for JD Lealiifano to add the extras for a fine 7 or 7 kicking display, despite being only credited for 6da (apologies JD). The men in Red would run out convincing winners by 45 to 19 at the full-time siren.
Once again with the forward pack leading the way, the men in Red remain in top spot on the table after 5 rounds of the John I Dent cup. Captain colossus, Cameron Holt would collect 3 Points after a getting through a mountain of work in his usual formidable style. Crack centre, Junior Time-Taotua would grab 2 Points for his bold attacking display, along with a swag of votes to take out the player’s player vote. Sharp-shooter and backline general JD Lealiifano nabbed the 1 point.
There were a number of serious injuries that took the gloss of day, with 4 victories across the grades. Next up is a trip over the boarder to play the men in White and is sure to be a challenging and rousing day of rugby at Campese Oval. Hope to see you all there….
Player’s Player: Junior Time-Taotua
3-2-1’s:
3 Points: Cameron Holt
2 Points: Junior Time-Taotua
1 Point : JD Lealiifano
Round 5 – Match Report – 2nd Grade.
It was perfect weather for Rugby with a forecast top of 18 degrees when the Red Men ventured north to battle the little birds the Home of Quidditch. Twozapalooza welcome back another “retired” Player Cal Smith who couldn’t resist playing with his brothers from another mother Mikey and Dean.
4 Minutes in Baby face Leiper throws to Cal Smith at the 10m line, maul forms beautifully before being collapsed illegally by the students. Piggies muscle up and pick go around the corner. Second phase Baby-Face Leiper again has Mikey OH as the hammer and drives over the line to score 20 metres in from the side-line (3 tries in 2 games that bloke loves a meat pie). Tommy “Tea-Pot” Hargan slots the conversion 0-7 to Blood and Bandages.
Beautifully taken restart by a flying and every graceful Nick Cushan sends the ball across the back to Tommy Tea-Pot who unloads to a flying Jez “Nkosi” Mututu at the 50m line. Mututu hit the NOS button and smoked two on the outside before fending the final defender and dotting down 5 in from the side-line. Hargan unable to convert 0-12 to Red.
08:51 first scrum of the match, a massive engagement from the Red Pack folds the students like limp lettuce leaving the TH facedown contemplating why he became a prop, setting the tone for the battle of the piggies for the next 62 minutes. After 2 minutes he was cleared of injury and resumed the contest.
13 minutes in a student’s raid into the red D-zone sees Referee Mass confuse a dominant tackle with a lifting tackle giving TH Nick Cushan a slice of cheese and a 10-minute sit down. Students Lineout to maul and a resurgent Cal Smith swims through middle and destroys the moment causing a knock on. The scrum pressure from an 8 on 7 causes red #8 to bobble at the back allowing the students to score. 5-12 Kings.
Restart- Mututu puts his body on the line knocking the students 4 down, Bailey GP wins the turnover PK. Red maul sets the platform sucking in defenders. Ball out to Ryan “Dewy” Hoare who breaks out the crossfield kick pass to Henry Palmer (the worlds shortest Israel Folau impersonator) who catches in goal for the simplest try he will ever score. Teapot’s kicking boots have fallen off and the score is 5-17 Red.
At this stage Baby-face Leiper works out that the Oakies, Cal and Peaky are making the student’s attacking Lineout a mess and sending him on a series of 20m runs from the tail gunner slot at every overthrow.
25 minutes another dominant red scrum followed by a series of direct runs sees Dean Oakman Hunt crash over for his second try in two games!!! The Tea-Pot relaces his boots and converts 5-24 Kings.
At 29 minutes- sustained pressure from the red pigs on the student’s try line creates space for Dewy Hoare, who calls the ball and sends it wide to Mrs Palmer’s son. Henry has a bit more to do here and the students cover defence decides that the young winger can’t run without a head. Referee Mass sends the student to the naughty chair for a 10-minute time out so he can contemplate his tackle tech and rightly awards a penalty try. 5-31 Red.
A wayward pass from the still rattled Palmer at the restart hands possession back to green. The Captain and LH prop likes his chances running at Mikey Oakman-Hunt … he was wrong with Mikey doing Mikey tings and rocking the student with a massive shot to the ball. The resulting whiplash from the impact sending him to Disneyland, thankfully able to get to his feet and be assisted from the ground and we wish him a speedy recovery.
Another student maul destroyed by Red defence sees the calling of Oranges still 5-31 Kings.
2 Minutes into the second stanza, an attacking raid into the student’s half sees Mikey Oakman-Hunt’s studs bite strangely into the turf putting pressure through the knee and causing a significant injury. Our thoughts are with the OH family as he begins his recovery process.
11 Minutes- Nick Cushman makes a tackle defending the line, studs get caught and he lands awkwardly in traffic causing what looks to be a re-fracture of his problem ankle. We wish Cush a speedy recovery. Not long after with Reds focus disturbed by two significant injuries they allow the students to score and convert. 12-31 Red.
21 Minutes- Viking’s scrum in their 22m. Ball wide from Tommy Lachlan to replacement Grayson Te Moana. Who creates space, draws the defender and kicks into the green 22 for Dewy Hoare to regather. Hoare under pressure, makes time and passes to a flying Mututu who catches, check steps and then is taken out by a sniper. It looks like Jez’s return to form has been tragically cut short by a rupture to his other Achilles. Those that know Jez are aware how hard and long he worked to recover from the other rupture. His work around VP with engaging players families during the previous recovery was tireless and immense. He is the ultimate clubman, we look forward to seeing him up and about soon.
10 minutes remaining Tommy Tea-Pot works the ball up the far wing to the students 22 line. The back line sends the ball to the near wing finding Chilly Challita who unloads to everyone’s favourite Uso TJ Sione who dances 20 metres down the sideline with mullet streaming behind him to dot down and trouble the scorers for the final time this game.
A dominant win for Vi-Kings Second Grade 36-12, but not a win without significant cost. We wish Michael, Cush and Jezza a speedy recovery and remind them to reach out if they need assistance.
Players Player TJ Sione
3-2-1’s:
3 Points: Dean Oakman-Hunt
2 Points: Ryan “Dewy” Hoare
1Point: Tom “Tea-Pot” Hargan
Round 5 – Match Report – Colts
A depleted line-up faced a pretty handy Uni-Norths Colts team at ANU North on Saturday, going down by the skinniest of margins 12-11. It was a game where we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
As depleted as we were by absences to key personnel through concussion protocols and disciplinary reasons, we did though have the services of ‘Senior’ Colt Dylan Challita. As usual Dylan was aggressively dynamic but not always supported and this may have been reflected in the final score.
The game started fast with Grayson Te Moana dotting down in very quick time for us to go straight to the lead but uncharacteristically Jacob ‘Taffy’ Symes was amiss with his kick so only 5-0 at that point. To his credit Taffy did jar his ankle somehow on the lush grass of ANU North, which I believe is both watered and fertilised at the same time from Sullivans Creek to the east, during warm ups. Some strapping was enough to get him on the paddock for kick-off. He did manage 2 penalty goals later and even backed up for 2nd grade after being subbed late.
We didn’t manage to bother the scoreboard attendant beyond those points as the Uni Colts came back to grab victory which ensured some very tense last few moments. Lessons learnt could be there is a time and place for trying to play Fiji rugby, usually when you are 20-30 pts up? Add to that a lack of composure under pressure and some very poor basic handling skills and you have the ingredients for a scrappy game of rugby.
We know we are better than we were last Saturday and some hard work no doubt is coming up during the week before we cross the border for Queanbeyan Rugby’s annual ‘Boo a Vikings’ Old Boys Day.
We also welcome back Josh Weir and Copper Wright to the squad.
Players Player: Dylan Challita
3-2-1’s:
3 Points: Dylan Challita
2 Point: Peron Faimalo
1 Point: Zac Lewis
Special mention to injured prop Caleb who put in a huge shift off field on Sat night ensuring that all the young lads left Civic by being the last to leave – well done Big Fella!
Round 5 – Match Report – 3rd Grade
Round 5 versus the student owls was a hoot… Coach Dan was studious in his game plan backed up by his assistant Andrew. A study plan to twit-twoo the Owls was in the curriculum.
A first up dominant display by the men in red as they laid out a lesson for the students running in five tries for the first semester. Once again leading try scorer Semsi was quick off the mark grabbing the first try early in the half. A consistent forward pack is looking dangerous once again around set-piece. The game settled in with each pack going hard while the backs got to look good with the ball in hand.
Naps was next to score in an academic end to a back-line set play, catching the students napping in class to cross the lines out wide. Turn over possession got us quickly into the Owls half once again as the forwards in now trademark style bullied the owls into submission. A 5-meter scrum proved the next platform for a near push-over try – for Semisi to take the ball from the back to dive across for his second.
With the restart Vikings regained position quickly and in broken play lead by Matt gaps opened up for Jack Mann to cross next for the first of his double for the day. Jack was on his game throughout the day with snipping runs and quick distribution putting players in gaps. Semisi crossed just short of half time to bring up a high-distinction half-time score of 0-24. Semisi must be close to the top of the class in the club’s top try scorers so far for season 2023.
Uni-Norths came back in the second with both some lucky decisions and the red-men their own worst enemy with slips in concentration and effort letting the Owls into the game. Owls first try came in the early part of second semester, off clear and obvious forward pass, uncited by the ref it was academic – play on for a 5 pointer.
The students pushing to turn failing grades for the first semester soon crossed the line again for try number two – off a gap created with a Vikings player held back creating a gap and an easy stroll to the line. However their third and final try of the day came off some well-deserved, patient and clever play a 21-36 score line was starting to look a little shaky Vikings.
With the second half in the balance but squarely with the students in debit – the Owls looked to play textbook ground position footy – kick after kick sent Clayton’s way – not sure if it was to catch Clay into a mistake or a desperate and poor attempt at 50-22s to chase the game. It was academic in the end as Clay and our back three was sure under the ball – and our high flying line out jumpers kept them in the students to a failing grade. Final Score 21-36 to Vikings. Coach Dan And Andrew to hit the books to improve our second half performance.
Players-Player: Matt Jolley
3-2-1s:
3 Points: Jack Mann – Jacky Chan couldn’t have kept up with our man Jack.
2Points: Matt ‘Captain-Courageous’ Jolley – once again dangerous in close contact, busting tackle and making breaks.
1 Point: Aiden ‘8-ball’ Billiards – sure of boot, pass and guiding the backs.
Round 5 – Match Report – 4th Grade
Vikings Frosty Fourths lament poor second half
Vikings 4th Grade were yet again greeted with clear autumn weather and a fast pitch at ANU North oval last Saturday to start the days rugby v’s Uni/Nths.
Vikings welcomed back Dan Uileau from several overseas pre-season work commitments as well as Daryl Bailey for his first game in 18 months. John Mose made his club debut and Billy Phimphravichith made his first showing of 2023.
The Redmen started well with early pressure turning to points with tries to skipper Hackett and a barnstorming Siaosi Tui Fokololo and then a long-range intercept to Beaver flyhalf Brandon Gatto seeing the team to half time with a score of 17-7 to the good. The plan in the second half was to kick for territory and put the Owls under pressure at their end. This didn’t quite eventuate as Uni-Nths 4th Grade resembled a young Colts side and their superior fitness and speed started to trouble the Redmen.
Some poor tackling from the outside backs meant the Owls raced in 3 quick tries and the game ended with the score of 28-17 the second half a complete turnaround from the first. Effort was evident but execution poor and lots to work on for the frosty fours as we head out to Terry Campese field to take on the always strong Whites 4th Grade next week.
3 points and players player: Matt Wafer – for a typically hard working game both sides of the ball
2 points: Billy Phimphravichith – a welcome return to the speedy centre who made numerous breaks and got a nice zipper split on his forehead
1 Point: Brandon Craig – tireless Beaver who keeps going for 70 minutes
