Wanneroo v Nedlands 2^nd Semi Final at Rugby Park 24^th August 2008

 Wanneroo Continues To Live The Dream

This extraordinary team, which has already taken Wanneroo Rugby Club into uncharted territory by reaching the qualifying finals, took another giant leap yesterday when they played Nedlands off the park to claim the remaining finals berth against Kalamunda next Sunday.

The game began sensationally. Nedlands allowed Wanneroo's drop out ball to bounce into touch just beyond their 10 metre line. From the line out Neddies fed the ball back to their fly half for the routine clearance kick. He was forced into a hurried kick which missed touch when Adam Pine shot out of the line and closed him down. The high ball was fielded by Olly Viney who calmly picked his spot, put a measured chip into the corner and chased after it. The catcher had to take evasive action to avoid Olly and he threw an unexpected Hail Mary pass to a team mate standing on the try line. His attempted clearance was charged down by Teraatu (Tee) Whaanga who then beat the remaining defenders to the ball to claim a try within minutes of the start. Troy Doughty converted. Wanneroo 7 - Nedlands 0.   

The ref then made a couple of decisions that baffled the greens and the crowd. First he indicated that he was playing advantage to Wanneroo for a Nedlands offence, but when no advantage was gained by Wanneroo he didn't bring them back for the original penalty he just put his arm down and allowed play to continue. He followed that by indicating advantage to Neddies for a Wanneroo offence. But unlike Wanneroo when Neddies failed to gain an advantage in play he then brought them back for the original offence and gave them the penalty. From the penalty Neddies hit the ball up three phases on the left of the field and another four phases on the right, but the Dogs defence was rock solid and the blues got no advantage.

From a Nedlands line out the blues attacked through the midfield, veered round Palei and moved the ball to their right wing where they caught the normally sound Wanneroo defence lacking in numbers. Full back Try Doughty covered across quickly but was left with a three on one situation. The Neddies winger took the tram lines option outside Troy then passed to his support runners on the inside but Troy got a hand to the ball and knocked it on. Although Troy insisted he went for the ball fairly the ref adjudged his action as deliberate and awarded Neddies a penalty try under the posts. He followed that up with an even harsher call when he gave Troy a yellow card and binned him. Wanneroo 7 - Nedlands 7.

 
Nedlands were spurred on by this and made some strong probing runs that were repulsed by even stronger defence. Wanneroo regained possession and gradually worked their way to the half way. From a scrum out wide on their right the Dog's number 8 Faatu (Tui) picked the ball from the base and made a break down the blind side. He ran a good twenty metres before drawing the defender and feeding winger Troy Woodman. Troy put the after burners on and burst through a tackle to plant the ball in the corner and put the green machine back in front. Ben Servien added the bonus points. Wanneroo 14 - Nedlands 7. 

Ben put a towering punt into Neddies 22 which was well chased by Adam and Fet who punished the ball catcher. Wanneroo piled on the pressure, won the ball and returned it to Ben. He side stepped a would-be tackler, coolly looked for space and pumped a high ball to the right wing. The Neddies winger made a mess of the catch and the ever opportunistic Woody raced in, grabbed the ball and went over in the corner for his second try. The Dogs had scored twice with only fourteen men on the paddock. Wanneroo 19 - Nedlands 7.       

Shortly after the restart Neddies were awarded a straight arm penalty which they tapped and ran. The Nedlands ball carrier was pulled up by the ref for a shepherd by his team mate and then inexplicably brought play back to the place of the original offence and gave Nedlands a second shot at the same penalty. This time they chose to kick for goal and successfully converted. Wanneroo 19 - Nedlands 10.    

Troy returned to the field and Ben kicked a pearler of a drop out that enabled his forwards to challenge for the ball and win it. Tu and Troy combined to make a 50 metre dash upfield. Troy was stopped 5 metres out, but Nedlands were penalised at the breakdown and Olly kicked for the line. Neddies stole the Wanneroo throw in and ran out of defence. Jake Smith got back and put a good tackle on the ball carrier but was penalised for going high. The blues poured into the midfield in numbers where they were met by a green wall and held up, but a transgression saw Wanneroo penalised 30 metres out, directly in front of the posts. Neddies popped the kick over. Wanneroo 19 - Nedlands 13.       
Another towering drop out by Ben was chased by his forwards and the blue's catcher was challenged. He was unable to take the ball cleanly and tapped it down to Olly who had got into a good position on Neddies side of the ball. Wanneroo were running hot. A sharp move saw Troy cut through the defence only to lose his footing metres from the line. Tui ran from the base of the scrum and fed Ben who popped the ball to Palei on the burst. He barged his way up the right wing before offloading to Woody who crossed for his third try of the half. Wanneroo 24 - Nedlands 13.    
Ben continued his barrage of high kicks with a 60 metre belter that took the Dogs into their opponents red zone. Neddies managed to clear their lines but Wanneroo used the line out ball to set their back line loose and create further mayhem. Neddies managed to withstand the charge at the expense of a scrum feed to Wanneroo. At the engagement, Wanneroo loose head prop, Mike (Jonno) Johnston, gave his opposite a lesson in a fair but fierce engagement which the guy took exception to because he knew he had no answer. He responded with a bit of a grope & grapple, but Jonno stayed cool and didn't react.

Nedlands had the next scrum feed and although they won their own ball they were shunted back and wheeled. This enabled the Wanneroo backs to get into Neddies backs and put the ball carrier down. Tui ripped the ball at the breakdown and flicked it quickly to Palei who made another bullocking charge, sucking in defenders as he went, before passing the ball to Ben who had made a clever outside loop up the wing. Ben squeezed through a narrow gap in the corner and scored. The difficult conversion was missed. Wanneroo 29 - Nedlands 13.    

A short period of tit for tat play ensued without either side gaining any real advantage until Neddies attacked down their right wing. A speculative grubber was cleared by Tyler Berry. The Neddies line out ball was then passed along their back line where an ‘in your face' charge by Tui forced a knock on by the blues. A bent arm penalty to Nedlands saw them gain a little respite and they punted the ball into the Dogs 22. Just as the Blues were looking dangerous Fet put in a huge tackle that set them back to square one. Palei was injured shortly afterwards and lay prostrate on the ground. The ref allowed play to continue for a good five minutes and even insisted on a continuing with the line out and open field play around him after Wanneroo kicked the ball into touch so Palei could be attended to. The half finished with Wanneroo in complete control.

 HALF TIME: Wanneroo 29 - Nedlands 13.

 Nedlands restarted well and attacked down their right wing where they had found openings several times during the first half. They again created an overlap opportunity that Olly only just managed to stifle. The blues were knocking on the door, but the greens sure as hell weren't going to open it. The Nedlands fly half kicked the ball to Troy who accepted it gratefully and countered with tried his trade mark chip and chase. A Neddies defender took the chip ball but Troy wrapped him up and Wanneroo advanced towards the try line where desperate defence led to a penalty in the Dog's favour. Troy slotted the ball home easily. Wanneroo 32 - Nedlands 13.   

Neddies were nothing if not resilient and pounded their way back into the game with some uncompromising forward drives, but the Dogs matched them with equally uncompromising defence. Ben relieved the pressure with precision long range kicks, his back line contributed with close quarter tackles, with Fet in particular putting his body on the line. The forwards toiled unceasingly. Jonno had done a sterling job and was replaced by Rory Slabbert. Shortly after that Tui suffered an ankle injury and was replaced by Joe Van Wyk. Then ‘Hat Trick' Woody (the only Wanneroo player with his own personal cheer squad made up of our lady's team) was replaced by James ‘Wheels' Wheeler.

It was good to see Wheels get a run because he has been a mainstay player for Wanneroo all the way through the competition rounds and played well in almost every game. He joined other exceptional players on the bench only because Wanneroo have accumulated a wealth of classy outside backs.

Neddies created another overlap down the right wing where the Wanneroo defensive structure had been a bit suss on several occasions and the try seemed inevitable until they knocked the ball on. The blues ignored their error and continued to work hard. Wanneroo worked just as hard, but made some uncharacteristically poor choices and loose passes when ball retention and recycling might have been the better option. Neddies obviously liked their chances down their right side because once again they moved the ball there, found themselves with another easy overlap and cruised in for a try. Wanneroo 32 - Nedlands 18.    
Troy's restart ball was all but ignored by the Wanneroo forwards and this gave Neddies an attacking opportunity. They put a high ball up and chased it. Wheels challenged for it and managed to tap it down to the road runner. Adam drove forward relentlessly, set up a ruck when he was pulled down and the Dogs pumped the ball into Neddies 22. The Blues won the resulting line out ball and hoofed it to Wheels again, who took it easily and returned it with interest. Wanneroo regained possession and Troy did another chip and once again wrapped up the ball catcher. The blues only just managed a scrambled clearance kick. Richie, Whemi and Adam all did good work which eventually pressured Neddies into conceding a penalty that Troy converted Wanneroo 35 - Nedlands 18.

 
The Dogs restarted with Jake & Richie taking the play forward. Neddies stopped them at the expense of a bent arm penalty. The ball was kicked high and followed by Adam who flattened the receiver to earn Wanneroo the scrum feed. Joe picked the ball from the base and fed Wheels who made space before returning the ball inside to Joe. Adam and Whemi took the ball on and gained more ground before a rare loose pass let Neddies off the hook and gave them a chance to attack. Olly denied them their opportunity with great cover work out wide. Wanneroo took charge again and were playing at a frantic pace, but somehow Neddies managed to wriggle off the hook. Wanneroo were penalised at the scrum and the Blues attacked down their favoured right wing and found the same holes to score through. Wanneroo 35 - Nedlands 23.         

After this hiccup Wanneroo resumed normal service and ripped into Neddies at the restart. A knock on gave Wanneroo the scrum feed and Joe went from the base. He ran strongly and made 15 metres before being tackled. Prop Toby Foster took the ball on and made it to the try line where he was stopped agonising inches short. He set the ball up well and his fellow front rower Rory Slabbert picked it and drove through a wall of defenders to score to the side of the posts. Troy converted. Wanneroo 42 - Nedlands 23. 

The game ran to it's inevitable conclusion with Wanneroo in charge and controlling the play.

FINAL SCORE:   Wanneroo 42 - Nedlands 23.   

Wanneroo only lost seven games in the competition this season and those losses were shared between four teams. The first loss was in the opening game of the season against Cottesloe when we scored three tries to nil but went down to seven penalties because of ill discipline - a learning experience. The other six losses were shared equally between Perth, Nedlands and Kalamunda who all beat us home and away. Wanneroo beat Perth in the first semi final, Nedlands in the second semi final and now play Kalamunda in the Grand Final.

Maybe there's an omen there somewhere.

Wanneroo and Kalamunda clubs and players have genuinely good relations with each other. Both play an entertaining, high scoring style of rugby with no pardons asked or given. We look forward to meeting our outer suburbs cousins on Sunday.

We encourage everybody to come and support the team at Rugby Park this Sunday at 3.30pm and afterwards in the Wanneroo club house at Kingsway.

 TO OUR COACHES & PLAYERS:
This has been a season of unprecedented success for Wanneroo which reflects exceptionally well on the hard work and commitment of our coaching staff and players. Senior coach Elwee Prinsloo and his assistant Ian Harvey have been admirably supported by the other grade coaches Steve Cavanagh, Skillie Bester, Steve Davis, Peter Bishall, Rangi Abraham and Pat Franklin. There is a great rapport among the players throughout the club which is epitomised by the large turn out of guys who have continued to turn up and help the 1^st grade squad with their finals training and preparation even though their own season is finished

On behalf of the Wanneroo Committee - Thank you all.

TO OUR MEMBERS & SUPPORTERS:

To all our members and supporters - Thank you for your staunch support throughout the lean years. Here's to the good times.

TO OUR WESTERN FORCE PLAYERS:

To all the Force players who have played for us, stuck with us and encouraged us when we were losing over the last few years. Your attitude, advice and example has been an integral part of our development. Junior Pelasasa has been with us for some time, but this year, Seta Fehoko, Matt Hodgson and Chris O'Young joined him to become part of the Wanneroo rugby family.  

I'd like say a special personal thank you to Junior for his long term commitment to the club and for his generosity and unstinting support of our juniors.

We hope to see you all at our annual dinner on September 19th

 TO OUR SPONSORS:
Without the generosity and support of our sponsors our club would not exist.

We would not have been able to build and become WA Grand Finalists.

To all of you - Many, many thanks.

Bob Henley, Frank Newton and Leon Davies.

LJ Hooker East Perth.

ATS Workforce.

Alf Barbagallo.

The Woodvale Tavern.

K&S Constructions.

Rugby Lunches WA.

Bradford Retaining Walls.

Guardian Lock & Safe.

City of Wanneroo.

Swan Brewery.

Healthway.

CMG Services

Instant Bins

Plan B Wealth Management

 UniRoos v Perth Bayswater.  1^st Semi Final at Rugby Park 24^th August

The Ladies played Perth in the last competition game the previous week and lost heavily. They had to front up this week knowing that it was more than likely they would suffer the same sort of treatment. Well they got beaten fairly comprehensively again, but showed sufficient improvement to reduce Baysie's win by a good 25 points.

The UniRoos play some good rugby and give of their all. They create phases of constructive play comparable to any team in the competition, but find it difficult to maintain their structure. Small mistakes enable the opposition to score easy points fairly regularly and their good work often goes unrecognised and unrewarded.

Today's game was a classic example of their good phases of play being let down by small errors. All the UniRoo players tried hard, but they were outplayed by a better team on the day. Perth were well served by their forwards. They provided a quality platform for their fly half and she played a sound game where she ran or passed when it was on and kicked when it wasn't. Her back line functioned well but they had the lion's share of the ball.

The UniRoos scrum was under constant pressure, but competed well and every now and then took the bigger Perth outfit and won a couple of tight heads as well as some of their own ball. Esther picked well from the base when under pressure and this enabled her team to get some useable ball. Tamara was looking good in the backline until she suffered an injury that forced her to leave the field. Jo played with great heart and put some good kicks in. Tahla gave everything she had as did Meredith and Vee when they got on. In fact all the girls tried hard but it wasn't enough to stop Perth.

I could pick out plenty of isolated aspects of good individual play for the UniRoos, but unfortunately I don't know all the girls names and don't want to make it seem that I favour the ones that I do know so I will stick with the facts and give the big success story of the day. It was Carmel.

This little slip of a woman was the smallest person on the field and she had the most amazing game. She seemed to be all over the place. Every time Perth kicked the ball she was there to take the catch. Every time Perth made a break she seemed to be the last defender and rarely missed a tackle. Every time there was a cover run or cover tackle to be made she seemed to be the one to make them. She had one of those games you dream about and she stood out like dogs thingies even though she was on the losing side. She shone.

As I said earlier the UniRoos may have lost the game, but they earned respect and reduced the previous week's scoreline by five tries. So they improved and Carmel lit her team up. Perth scored some very good tries and would have demoralised most other teams, but this team wouldn't give in. They scored the best try of the day almost at the end of the game when they were already 51 - 0 down and could have just rolled over. Instead they got a ball in the midfield on the half way and drove it forward. They committed the Perth defenders before moving the ball to the right and making ground. They repeated this twice more before feeding Tahla out wide. She made a good break down the sideline and withstood two Perth tackles before feeding Carmel who came screaming through on the inside. Carmel took the ball with a solid wall of black jumpers in front of her. It looked like mission impossible, but she danced her way through what seemed an impenetrable packed defence and planted the ball under the posts for the Uniroos only try of the day. The successful conversion made it Perth 51 - Wanneroo 7.

It was a well constructed try. Most of the team participated in it's creation, it was maintained by Tahla and finished superbly by Carmel. It was a try that any senior male team would have been proud to lay claim to.

Well done Perth Bayswater on your comprehensive win and well done UniRoos for not only reducing the previous week's score, but for giving everything you had and still coming up with the try of the day in the last minute. That's rugby.

 Bill Watt