Colts v KOBs Away

S Kings Old Boys Venue; The Kings School. Victory 20-12

Best & Fairest;
3 Points; Mark Toma & Dean Schultz
2 Points; Arthur Maikin & Chris Fiadino
1 Point: Cam Brodie & Nathan Timbrell

Tryscorers;
Chris Fiadino
Mark Toma
Justin Gates

Conversion: Arthur Maikin
Penalty Goal; Nathan Lee

The colts took the paddock a little underdone and under resourced for the 2013 season opener but a truly gritty performance saw us take the points away. Thanks must go to the several players who showed real guts to step up and play out of position, thank you to Richard Jenkins, Dean Schultz and especially Mark Toma.
The game and season opened with a trademark hard hitting tackle from the kick off Marc Lava picking up where he left off last season and making the Kings Number 8 wishing he’s stayed home. It was a game of two halves with us spending the majority of the first in our own 22 showing gutsy defense to repel raid after raid, we soaked up the pressure and took our opportunities when they came and after only three forays into enemy territory we came to the break with an 8 nil lead thanks to a penalty goal to Nathan Lee and a great try to Chris Fiadino.
A committed positive huddle at the halftime produced just what the coach ordered in the second half, Mark Toma backed up his commitment in the scrums with the requested hard running and was rewarded with a try which Arthur converted; 15-0 to the good guys! Our lineouts were exceptional with an unrehearsed move seeing Lava take some strong runs off the front and Jenko steal plenty of opposition ball whilst he and Schultzy claimed their own ball. Scrums saw us holding our own and as our confidence grew we were even applying plenty of pressure on their ball, claiming a couple of tight heads. The backline chimed on occasion and left all on the sideline with a relish to see what Arthur and the Halliday twins could really achieve when given quality ball. We spent most of the half in their 22 and a quick tap from a penalty saw Justin Gates push through for another try; 20-0.
Kings did have some opportunities late in the half and despite some try saving tackles by Wilson out wide they did score one against the run of play giving them a seven pointer and with only minutes on the clock awarded scrums and penalties on our line we repelled them time and again. However with one five metre scrum we surprised even ourselves leaving a hard won tight head ball loose at the base of our scrum and free for an opposition half back to run through and cross for an unconverted five pointer. This took the final score to 20-12, a hard fought victory of which the team can be deservedly proud as the coaching, management and club ranks are. A great start to the season, whilst it has been requested that I keep it brief here, please see our facebook comms for player analysis and more comments from the coach. Keep it going boys, use this win and the enthusiasm to drag down the other players we were missing on the weekend, see you on Tuesday for training.

Zumba Zumba Zey,

Ado Brannan
Colts Manager