Wanneroo 10 Kalamunda 0

 This was a day for ducks and other water loving creatures.

Now, it seems that recently the coach has not been making correct decisions; that he has been blind to several egotists; that he has shown favouritism; that his selections were dubious and all sorts of other crap that comes to the surface when players and teams become discontent at under achieving.

Well, with the exception of a win here, a good 20 mins there, and the occasional flurries of excellent rugby, there was a lot of under achieving!!

 Until today that is!!!!

 At the start of last season Kala put a hundred points on us, today we only put ten on them. But it was ten more than they scored and the divide is there for anyone to see. It could have been a heap more.

 Simple game plan: If we’ve got the ball they can’t score, no fancy stuff in the wet and go kick butt!!

It was executed to perfection, to the extent the when Kala did get some ball in the second half it was given the big wellie in an attempt to get out of their own half. Into the wind and rain, the first half was very competitive with both teams working hard for an opening. It came from a simple short pass from Egg to Tam at pace on an angle that enabled her to slice through the defence from 30m out and score under the posts. What’s the no8 doing at inside centre you may well ask? Well, our other no8, Liana has got over an injury and deservedly has made the position hers. The tight 5 of Sera, Fet, Ave, Meredith and Nic played in unison all day and flankers Lisa and Georgie harried and tackled in midfield like tigers.

 The forwards domination coupled with some good backline linking had Kala pinned in defence for long spells. We were held up over the line at least five times and although it’s not fair to say that we squandered possession, but there were several more opportunities to score. Kalamunda did defend particularly well. Ave sealed the win with one of her bustling back-up runs to burst over through a couple of defenders. Clinical finishing! Our wingers, Flick and V together with tackling machine Carmel at fullback complimented Mandy and Tam in mid field and our halfback pairing of Sam and Esther found each other all day to set up some great attacking opportunities.

 Finals rugby is different in that any little slip up can cost you dearly. With the game in the balance at 5-0, despite the dominating play, and even at 10-0, it was a case of “if it aint broken don’t fix it”. It is therefore with regret that I didn’t use my bench of Toto, Samantha, Dim and Karen. But great credit to these terrific people for being there, as an integral part of the team and supporting the players on the field.

 Our next game is at Rugby Park on Sunday @ 10am the Preliminary final

 Come and cheer us on!!!

 Bill Mowatt