Round 6 Review – Whites Whitewashed

Round 6 – Match Report – 1st Grade

The Vikings were taking on the Queanbeyan Whites on a cold and overcast afternoon in front of the usual vocal crowd at Campese Oval.  Once again, the team was basically the same as last week apart from the return of regular half back Seamus Smith.  A new recruit from the Northern Hemisphere in English prop Monty Royston would join the team as fresh reserve after his long journey, along with another Viking favourite in Dean Oakman-Hunt joining him on the bench as well. The Red men were looking to maintain their position at the top of the table in their matchup with the 2nd placed Whites.

The locals started willingly in the opening exchanges, applying some pressure on the Redmen’s defense before hooker Sam Thomas would score a trademark rolling maul try after 10 minutes of play.  The Vikings were looking to attack at all opportunities with controlled forward play and utilizing the pacy outside backs before JD Lealiifano would grab a penalty goal to extend the lead to 8 to 0 on the 20 minute mark.  It didn’t take long for the next score after some controlled play by the Vikings to see damaging centre Joe Wadman grab a converted try to see the men in Red lead by 15 points.  The lead was further extended after half back Seamus Smith sniped his way over a great team build up. With full back Lennix Tovo creating all sorts out wide, fleet footed winger Lachie Davis would dive over out wide to see the Vikings taking a commanding 27 to 0 lead at the half time break.

The 2nd half began with the Vikings continuing to dominate the field position that would see try scoring freak, Sam Thomas, grab his 2nd 5 pointer of the afternoon after more forward controlled mauling. The Whites would open their account with a converted try to see the score of 32 to 7 with plenty of time remaining in the match.  The Vikings were unlucky not to grab a spectacular try to Lachie Davis from a brilliant kick from halfback Smith but was called back by the Referee before Queanbeyan grabbed their own 5 pointer from an intercept try with 15 minutes remaining.  Play became quite scrappy for the last quarter of the game before Lachie Davis would not be denied again to grab a brilliant try with Lennix Tovo converting from out wide to see the final score of 39 to 12 in favour of the Redmen.

Dominating both field position and possession against the locals, the victory to the men in Red now sees them 6 points clear at the top of the table after 6 rounds of the John I Dent cup.   Twinkle toes full back Lennix Tovo would collect 3 Points after proving a handful all game. Another speedster in winger Lachie Davis would grab 2 Points for another elusive display and would earn the player’s player vote as well. The destructive Titi Nofoagatotoa was again a dominant force in the forwards to nab the final point.

The Vikings certainly had a day out across the border, with victories in all grades. Next Saturday is certainly a big day for the club, starting with games against Penrith and Goulburn before one of the main events for the 50th Anniversary Celebrations at the Red and White Ball.  Going to be a big one…

Player’s Player:  Lachie Davies

3-2-1’s

3 Points: Lennix Tovo

2 Points: Lachie Davis

1 Point: Titi Nofoagatotoa

Round 6 – Match Report – 2nd Grade

Twozapalooza travel across the border to Queanbeyan for their annual hate a Viking day; also known as Queanbeyan Old Boys Day.

The Old boys were left to cry into their beer early as Kerry McInerny ever a lover of a Qbyn match charged down the exit kick from Qbyn and scored in the 36th second. The first of a hat-trick made more impressive as he only played 45 minutes before a well-earned rest for a battered body.

The other Try-scorers for the day were “Dewy” Hoare, Tommy “Tea-Pot”, Ryley “Pappy” Douglas and everyone’s favourite Incredibles character Henry “Dash” Palmer who would have left burn marks across the paddock if it were a drier day. Henry’s 70 metre chase and try saving tackle makes you wonder what the Junior Wallabies selectors were thinking.

Callum’s Lineout made life very difficult for the Queanbeyan hooker “also known as the lesser – Bower”. It would have been all the more challenging for him as his younger brother and Vikings son Kai escaped Wagga and came to watch.

The Red Men’s superiority across the park was exemplified by the back-row effort. Challita a tackling machine with zero misses and a turnover, McInerny the everywhere man scoring 3 tries and Goymer-Peak with 4 turnovers.

A massive win to Second Grade 41 – 12 with 10 points left on the kicking Tee in difficult conditions.

Players Player:  Kerry McInerny

3-2-1’s

3 Points: Kerry McInerny

2 Points: Ryan Hoare

1Point: Henry Palmer/Tom Hargan

Round 6 – Match Report – ViQueens

The ViQueen’s took on the much improved Queanbeyan woman’s side at Campese Oval in chilly conditions in a match that both sides braved and displayed some entertaining rugby. Tayla Stanford returned to the backline reliving her time as a centre with a strong performance running amok with Sharon Waihape outside her on the wing zigzagging herself away from the tryline much to her daughter Zali’s disapproval.

Gislea Vaea slick service from halfback gave the backs plenty of space and running room which Gabrielle Petersen took advantage of to play make and expose mismatches resulting in her scoring a try and setting up trys for others including ViQueen debutant Leila Spackman.

Leila Spackman was another Gen Red player to joining Vika, Olivia, Jess and Beyonce who debuted earlier this for the ViQueens and playing alongside their former Gen Red coach and ViQueen legend Stef Stewart-Jones.

Up front Erika “Eric” Maslen was again a standout with her ball carrying, breakdown and set piece work. Holly continues to become a ball carrying work horse and Jess is coming out of her shy self and showing us why we need to give her the ball as much as we can.

It was good to see the Queanbeyan side challenge us with their attack and were huge in their 1-on-1 defence!

The ViQueens came away with a 46 – 5 victory with no injuries which is always a huge bonus in a physical game. The ladies were also excited for team mate Tabua Tuinakauvadra who debuted for the Wallaroos against the Fijian woman’s side later that same evenings – congrats again Tabua!

3-2-1’s

3 Points: Tayla Standford

2 Points: Gabrielle Petersen

1 Point: Erika Maslen

Round 6 – Match Report – Colts

Funny old game rugby, one point losers one week to one point winners the next…..

On a bitterly cold day, where leaves were swirling off trees adding atmosphere to an otherwise bleak Terry Campese Field in Queanbeyan, Vikings Colts got over the line 23-22 in a scrappy game of contrasting halves.

First half was Queanbeyan’s as they led into oranges 10-7 but the second half was ours, outscoring them 18-12 despite only scoring two tries all game to their 4 tries. The difference being Taffy found his kicking mojo banging over 2 conversions and 3 penalties (which in itself was refreshing as apparently no one gives away penalties against us?) for a personal tally of 13 points. Try scorers were both front rowers, Logan Pou with one and the other to Tony Lemisio – special mention to the entire scrum here, once again dominant as they have been all year. No doubt down to the hard work they put in on a Thursday night. Dominance is rarely rewarded tho as will be told later.

Whites were first on the board after a sloppy lineout gave them the ball for their roly poly Tight Head to stroll down the touchline unopposed to dot down in the corner, should have tried to get closer as their kicker had a shocker – missing all conversions!!

At the 28min mark that dominance I mentioned earlier that went mostly unrewarded was never more evident than what happened next. Our scrum shunted the Whites over every postcode in the Queanbeyan area yet somehow the unpenalized Whites player, who was detached from the scrum by this stage, picked up a loose ball and scored…10-0.

33rd min Redemption! Pushover try to Logan Pou and converted by Taffy…..10-7.

Standout in the first half was Cooper Wright, the hirsute one ferocious in all contact and generally playing like an angry man – someone must have pulled his hair?

At the 40min mark Taffy bangs over a penalty for us to level the score. On the 50min mark Queanbeyan rolled a maul to score and go in front 15-0 but it was short lived as 2 minutes later it was our turn, Tony Lemisio touching down to take the lead back.

Not a great deal to write about late in the game although the Whites did manage another try but we were never headed, and 4 valuable points were ours. Taffy’s personal tally of 13points definitely helped that! But we did at least get to see Coach Southwood smile.

Players player:   Jacob ‘Taffy’ Symes

3-2-1’s

3 Points: Cooper Wright

2 Points: Wil Taylor

1 Point: Jacob Symes

Round 6 – Match Report – 3rd Grade

2620 cross border skirmish…

The red hot Red-Men in Third-Grade continued strong form with a more settled side starting to take shape six rounds in the season.  Whites looked up to the challenge to steal the momentum early – only for early mistakes to put them on the backfoot.  Some quick ball and brilliant back line moves combined with stout forwards pushing the Whites to raise white flag as they surrendered the first try to Viking Willy P within the first 4 minutes. A promising start on a cold day.

The forwards are now building a formidable reputation raiding opposition lines with regularity but also a formidable scrumming unit.  Three tighthead wins to the red men as Whites surrendered any scrum advantage.  It was shaping up to be a long day for the whites’ forwards.  Punctuated by a colossal tighthead scrum win on QBN 5-meter line – marched 4 meters back – the ball well controlled by Grannie before he took the ball in hand to face down the hapless winger to score at the nine-minute mark.

Semisi has earned a new nickname as “the Baker” cooking up meat-pies with regularity.  He got his first of two for the day, fearsome with ball in hand and hard to stop close to the line.

The engine room of our pack is Josh Davis – a quiet achiever well rewarded for strong efforts across the park – always strong in set-piece play – and how has added a dynamic tackle busting runs – has he broke free of defenders to streak to the line over 40 meters – long legs striding with ease to dive under the black dot.

Ill-discipline and an unsympathetic ref saw us penalised regularly – no team warnings for repeated infringements and some push and shove resulting in three yellow cards during the first half, however the men in red hung strong and tight holding out the QBN boys over a tense period of play.

We saw the half out with Billy crossing the line right on half time – 28-0-point buffer for drinks at half-time.  Strong words from Coach Dan and Andrew – keep disciplined, stay true to our game and not the white-antics, keep the foot down on the throat and put the Whites away with more of the same – remembering to maintain the intensity and not let their White flag drop.

The Second half was a more disciplined affair – however some concentration waned in parts as replacements were made.  The whites staged a small but brief fight back to see their winger cross twice.  Semisi put on some big hits in defence and earned a small lie down – however also cooked up his second meat-pie early in the second half.    Our forward dominance continued providing the backs a good front foot platform to launch attack at the whites. However, the final try of the day was to Matt Jolley – giving, now standard mid field trouble with hard defence and big hard hitting runs, busting and leaving defenders in his wake.

Final Score 3s remain undefeated; QBN 12- 47 Vikings.

Players-Player went to Matt Jolley

3-2-1s:

3 points: Tom “Radar” Lachlan – homing radar with the boot with 6 from 7 conversions and troublesome for Whites at the base of the ruck all day.

2 Points: Semisi “the baker” Qalova – a new nickname for his ability to cook up meat-pie (tries) frequently.  After round six the Club’s leading try scorer.

1 Point: George Uilelea – hardest worker there is – strong locking partner to Josh, high flying at lineout and strong carries across the park.

Round 6 – Match Report – 4th Grade

Vikings 4ths finish strongly despite slow start

The 4th Grade squad had been training well and despite Qbyn being unable to contest scrums, aimed to start the day at Taylor Park strongly with a big and hardworking forward pack and some speed out wide.

Winning the toss and running uphill in the first half seemed a good plan although that wisdom was questioned when the young Whites side repeatedly split the red wall out wide and crashed over for two early tries to take a 12-0 lead.

After an in-goal spray (about first up tackles and holding onto our own ball) from veteran prop Matt ‘Waffles’ Wafer, the frosty 4s sparked into action. Field position and ball retention resulted in back-to-back tries through the piggies with Conan ‘Barbarian’ Va’aga storming over the Whites for an early double.

With the game evenly poised, halftime instructions were simple – play for field position downhill and set up camp in our attacking 22. The plan came together (love it when a plan comes together) and in a day of multiple try scorers, returning 8-man James ‘Knighty’ Knight marched over for a double (although one could and should have been shared with his scrum half Caelan Caldwell to get him off the nudie run) and the speedy sidestepper Fijian Steve Sanday owned the left wing for a brace of his own.

Despite a late try to the Whites a comprehensive 32-17 bonus point win over the New South Welshman, sets us up for next weeks battle with more NSW men from Goulburn.

Players Player: Jonathan Mose

3-2-1’s

3 points: Clayton Hawke was a dominant forward earning the points

2 Points: Jonathan Mose in his second game for the club had a storming 2nd half at inside centre with bustling runs setting up several of our tries, claiming the 2 points and Players Player.

1 point: Tino Lolofau closely followed his second-row partner Clayton with a dominate forwards showing.