Matchday 12 – Match Reports

4th Grade
Brothers 19 – 5 Hornsby

With the colts looking to prepare for finals rugby this weekend, this was an opportunity for them to get some game time against a physical and tough Hornsby side.
Ably assisted by a few old hands, such as Elvis, Aido and Karl, they managed to scrape out a win by playing to their strengths and avoiding the up front battle with the big Hornsby pack.
Tom C, a part time fourth/third grader himself scored a belter of a try that was the pick of the bunch in the game.
Todd and Rodez pick up one more each.

Player Points:
3: Nathan – Solid hard work from the young man, relished the physical battles.
2: Tom C – Excellent try, good work rate, and lashings of pace.
1: Aido – A manager who dishes points out to himself? He must have had an awesome game! Nice work Aido.

3rd Grade
Brothers 31 – 12 Hornsby

Third grade was an interesting game. The quality in the Brothers side ensured that we got our four try bonus point with most of the second half remaining.
However, this was the catalyst for us to start dropping off tackles and start being slack unorganized in defence.
This left the big runners from Hornsby back into the game. Their three strike runners started to make inroad into our territory.
Combined with a high penalty count against us, this put our backs to the wall for a 10-15 minute period of the game.
Eventually, we got our shape back and responded with another try at the end of the game to make the scoreline look more comfortable than it was.
A welcome return to winning ways, but far from comfortable.

Tries came from Matty G suitably enough on his 301st game, a penalty try from a rapidly reversing scrum, Opie, Matt D and Rocky for his first of the season after a nicely worked moved through 4 sets of hands.

Player points:
3: Niall – Nearly scored the try of the season with a jinking run and a nice chip over the full back. NEARLY, not quite. then went off with a dead leg. Soft.
2: Opie – dangerous in the loose, scored an opportunistic try and solide defence.
1: Tim – Marshalled the midfield defence and showed some guile and no little skill to make a couple of tries. Growing in confidence every week.

2nd Grade
Brothers 17 – 7 Hornsby

This was a pretty close game in the end. Second grade are getting used to winning and winning well, and a tough close game like this is maybe a nice dose of reality.
Forced to field a much changed side, it was still a good side on paper that went out to face Hornsby’s best performing team.
And much like in the other grades we had to work hard for everything we got.
Missing key players like John Gibbs and Jone made it a little harder to get that go forward ball we’ve been dining out on all season.
However, this game was won and lost in the backs.
Hornsby took a while to get to grips with the fast and hard running back line, and that bubbled over into frustration a few times.
Great credit has to go to the boys who stood up to be counted, without getting dragged into silly stuff.
Chirish, Kitchen and Dom North bagged five pointers that left us one short of a bonus point.
But in the end, job done, another win in the bag and another REALLY tough game against Epping coming up. Last time out they were disciplined, well coached and physical, so they will be hard to beat.

Player points:
3: Si – So strong with ball in hand. Broke the line nearly every time. Once it clicks with Kitchen, it’s going to be awesome.
2: Kitchen – As above, solid in attack and physical in defence. Once Kitchen and Simon click, they’re going to be hard to stop.
1: Dean – Great service from the biggest loudest mouth on the pitch, which is exactly what you want from your half back.

1st Grade
Brothers 31 – 10 Hornsby

Don’t be fooled by the scoreline. This was a lot closer than it looked. But for a couple of late tries, there was only ten points in it.
With flu and injury taking some front line players out of contention, it was somewhat of a new look side with a brand new second row.
Ned Brown made his season debut in first grade in the back row and acquitted himself well, and Kit was promoted into 12 and had a solid and physical game.
In the end that little extra bit of quality was what got us over the line to win this one.
Buckets picked up two tries by running some excellent support lines, as did Macca and that was the difference between the teams in the end.
Excellent support play, and skill levels that allowed us to exploit that.
Shaka got the other try in a well worked move.

Player points:
3: Buckets – Another excellent display, bagged a brace, won crucial turnovers and made life hell at the breakdown.
2: Macca – Another class display. With Buckets formed a formidable first line of defence.
1: Jone – In an unfamiliar position in the row, the nimble Fijian stood up and played a less spectacular but ultimately equally important role in an excellent team performance.