Greens 27 - Wanderers 14
Aaaah....what a great and glorious end to a great and glorious day. Greens at home, triumphant in all grades and the Girls finishing the day off belting out team song outside of the Green Room.
It was a big game for the Greens: Wanderers put 50 on them in their previous meeting and, with University suffering a massive injury toll and Hamilton drifting off the pace, there was the whisper of a 'grand final preview'. And the signs were good early; normally slow starters, the Greens went out hard, dominating the scrums and showing increased agression at the breakdown. Winning a lion's share of ball, the Greens worked their way into Blue territory and, after some excellent lead up work from Karrie McGrorey in her first game at hooker and scrum half Bobby Thompson, some quick hands saw winger Casey Stephenson dive over out wide. Greens 5 - blot. The Greens went straight back at them immediately, working the ball around cleverly, recycling posession and driving the two blues back with fierce defence. Eventually the pressure told and another backline play saw former Sydney Uni gun Caroline Layt brush off two defenders to dive over in the corner. Unfortunately, in the lead up, Greens 10 Kiya Simon hurt her hip and had to be replaced.
Despite the positional shift, the Greens remained focused and composed with Bec Young and Bobby combining brilliantly at 9 - 10 and orchestrating everything. Again, the Greens weathered some Wanderers pressure and attacks before the Greens worked it into the two blues red zone (aah it's like a rainbow). Storming off a short Mel Sutton pass, Jacinta Soe bumped off two defenders and could've just dived for the line. Instead, she reared up, bumped the Wanderers fullback flat on her back deep in the in goal and planted the ball down. Greens 15 - 0, which was how they went into the sheds.
Again, the Greens achilles heel, fitness, looked to be creeping up again. Wanderers scored a converted try agains the run of play to make the score 15 - 7. Added to this, there was quite a few walking wounded for the Greens: flankers Marsh (shoulder) and Halliwell (neck), 2nd rower Rucki Mauli (shoulder), captain Young (ankle), so the threat of Wanderers revival was always there. At least, it might have been had the Greens not shut down every attacking play. With a few punters crying out for it, Mel Sutton dived over in Green Corner to put the game beyond doubt, and captain, a deserved Players Player Bec Young, finished the scoring with a cheeky dash from 20 out. The two blues scored right on the siren, but those of you who took the punt on the Greens 13 + margin were already on the phones to their bookmakers to claim their winnings.
In a performance that could define the Green season, there were so many standout performers, which was shown by the various points awards:
Bec Young was Players Player, the referee gave his points to Karrie McGrorey and Caroline Layt, while the coach gave his three to Bobby Thompson, two to McGrorey and one to Casey Stephenson. Great team effort, that.
Special praise must go to the referee, Gerry Mason, who was extremely vigilant at the breakdown, ignored the constant squealing from both teams and let the game flow. Thanks, Fester.
