ROO-DOGS BOLT INTO PRELIMINARY FINAL WITH COOL CLIFFHANGER
Sunday, 17 August 2008 8:26pm
by Rick Boyd
Wanneroo continued an astonishing year of success with a cool and clever 21-16 cliffhanger win over 2007 premiers Perth-Bayswater today at Rugby Park in the minor semi-final of the RugbyWA club competition, sponsored by KWIK Crane and Transport Hire.
Click here to watch the hightlights, courtesy of LMSC
Wanneroo timed their run to perfection, saving their first win over the tough Morley team in three outings this season for the one that mattered, the minor semi-final. The win earned the northern suburbs bolters a place in next week’s preliminary final against Nedlands after two consecutive wooden spoons.
A composed kicking game by the team’s French professional, flyhalf Benjamin Servien, brought Wanneroo home with a barrage of second half bombs that rattled the Perth-Bayswater defence. The precision back line running that saw Perth-Bayswater home in last week’s prequel was conspicuous by its absence this week and despite a late forward charge that gave the game its nail-biting conclusion, the outgoing premiers never looked in control.
The loss drops Perth-Bayswater out of the finals and deprives them of a chance to defend their title, and they would be very disappointed that they did not measure up on the day under the pressure of finals rugby. With a largley new team to last year's outfit, highly rated coach John 'JT' Taylor always had his work cut out for him to back up with a win this year but after a run of injuries in the second half of the year, the Morley outfit performed creditably to make the finals.
Wanneroo led 13-3 at half time after Perth-Bayswater dominated territory and the set pieces but hamstrung their efforts with lapses of discipline that cost them twenty minutes with 14 men, while the Roo-dogs seized their opportunities with alacrity.
Perth-Bayswater powered into the opening minutes, shoving Wanneroo back in the scrums and stealing their lineouts, but after eight minutes the Roo-dogs escaped upfield. They came close to scoring but Perth-Bayswater conceded a penalty in defence of their line only to see Wanneroo fullback Troy Doughty steer the sideline kick wide.
Perth-Bayswater powered back and after a skilful up and under and regather by Perth-Bayswater fullback Fabian Broughton, the Roo-dogs gave away a penalty in front of the posts and lock Jock Stanley slotted the sitter 13 minutes in.
Perth-Bayswater kept the pressure on to lock Wanneroo in their half, but couldn't penetrate and made errors in attack. The technique of the Morley team's scrum repeatedly ruined the ball for the Roo-dogs' bigger pack but on the half hour Wanneroo escaped and came close to scoring when centres Paelei Masili and Feterika Saue combined with high speed fancy footwork. But instead Doughty landed a 40 metre penalty goal after Perth-Bayswater number eight Cale McCort was yellow carded by referee Andrew Lindsay, drawing the game 3-3 after 32 minutes.
Minutes later Wanneroo almost scored again when wing Troy Woodman caught a favourable bounce from a corner kick but the scrambling Perth-Bayswater defence held on, conceding a moderate penalty chance that Doughty missed.
Perth-Bayswater cleared long but Woodman counter-attacked, sending the ball wide down the touch line where lock Hemi Davies finished off a 65 metre sweep with a try midway between the posts and the touch line. Doughty converted the moderate chance and Wanneroo raced to a 10-3 lead with minutes left in the half.
Another fortuitous bounce was collected by prop Semisi Taleni as Wanneroo went into overdrive and Perth-Bayswater lost centre Mark Gaskin to the sin bin in defence. Doughty converted the gift penalty from in front and Wanneroo took the 13-3 lead into the break.
Perth-Bayswater opened the second spell with more territorial dominance despite being back to 14 men again, Stanley missing a 45 metre penalty after four minutes but landing a 35 metre penalty from the middle of the park for offside after 7 minutes.
The game returned to a massive struggle between the 22s. Perth's backline looked laboured and awkward compared to the sparkling precision of last week's final competition game, but the Roo-dogs conceded a string of penalties to keep the men in black going forward. Finally, coming in the side of a ruck cost them three points when Stanley landed an angled 40 metre penalty after 16 minutes.
Servien peppered the Perth-Bayswater defence with stratospheric high kicks and Wanneroo went on the offensive but Perth-Bayswater won a crucial goal line scrum battle and kicked clear. Then Perth-Bayswater had their turn at attack as the game entered the final ten minutes but were directionless with the ball in hand and the Roo-dogs were soon back on the offensive.
After 32 minutes a long pass blind from Servien found Woodman on the sideline and he powered around the defence to score in the corner. The conversion missed but the game seemed all but over at 18-9.
However, Perth-Bayswater drove back and scored a characteristic pick and drive try to hooker Adam Morris from a ruck on the line, converted from out wide by Stanley to come close at 18-16, setting up a razor-edge finish with minutes to play.
But there were no miracles for the 2007 premiers and Wanneroo forced play back down to Perth-Bayswater's 22 and hammered their line until they gave away one final penalty, and Doughty slotted the easy kick in the last play of the day.
Wanneroo coach Elwee Prinsloo put the turnaround in fortunes down to desperation.
“Last week Bayswater were desperate, this week it was our turn to be desperate,” Prinsloo said.
“We looked at the DVD from last week and we made a few adjustments and it paid off on the day.
“Especially around the fringes we attacked closer, we were a lot more physical in that area, a lot more numbers at the breakdown and we played the territory.”
Prinsloo paid tribute to flyhalf Servien whose kicking kept the Perth-Bayswater defence on the back foot.
“We played him in centre last week because of injury so it was good to see him back in position and taking control of the game,” Prinsloo said.
Prinsloo planned on Perth-Bayswater easing off after their big effort the week before.
“They played a pretty good game last week and it’s always hard to keep up the consistency. They were on top and they didn’t come up with anything new, and I think we took advantage of that,” Prinsloo said.
“There was a lot of motivation in that loss for us, and I wasn’t worried as we prefer to be the underdog. No one gave us a chance in the beginning of the season and we had to come back from that.”
For Prinsloo, the win was more than just a finals game for last season’s wooden spooners.
“It’s brilliant to be a part of this development process with these guys,” Prinsloo said.
In the second grade minor semi-final, Wests-Subiaco won a thriller 30-23 in extra time. Wests led 23-11 late in the second half but Soaks scored two late tries and converted on the bell to force the game into extra time, only to see Wests power over for a converted try early in the first period.
In other minor semi-finals today, Joondalup third grade defeated Wests-Subiaco 19- 12, Bunbury fourth grade defeated Kalamunda 26-19, Perth-Bayswater fifth grade defeated University 33-20, Cottesloe Under 20 defeated Joondalup 22 -12, and Kalamunda Under 18 defeated Nedlands 24-0.
