5-4
A vastly depleted Praedator's outfit managed to sneak home a heroic victory last Thursday. Playing against the undefeated competition leaders, things were looking grim when only seven Praedators lined up at the kick off. Thankfully a late comer arrived to fill out a skeleton crew.
The Bates brothers (x3), Weapon, Chunga, Slappy, LotW and myself were the only one's who made it to this Australia Day show down. Our pivot, our other pivot and the nuggety rake all failed to show or had other commitments (sacrilege!). Arrayed against us was what appeared to be two teams, some of which were backing up from playing A grade.
The opposition won the toss, but foolishly decided to run into the sun (the only real consideration when you win the toss at Birrong Park). The first half was a ragged affair for the Praedators. The heat and humidity was oppressive, the grass was long and it was hard work. By half time we were down 3-1, a lone try to Mr Dependable (Marto) keeping us in it. Thankfully there were some hopeful signs. We were hanging in there and the opposition seemed a little down on energy for some reason.
The second half was probably the best half of football I've been involved in for a long, long time. Amazingly we managed to lift our effort levels. A dummy to chunga/pass to LotW resulted in him streaking away down the wing. Then a switch of play to Ted gave him some room to stand up their shoddy blindside defense. Timmy chimed in as well and suddenly we were up 4-3 with 10 minutes to go.
What followed was the Siege of Birrong Park, 2006. The opposition were always going to come back and they countered ferociously. Afew penalties and we found ourselves defending our line desperately for 4 or 5 sets back-to-back. Brilliantly, the boys swarmed, shouted, kicked and cussed until we eventually forced them to make a mistake. In the set that followed we managed to ruck it out and kick it deep into their half.
Unfortunately we gave away a penalty at this point and shockingly allowed a big fat gumby to run straight through us and score! 4-4 with almost no time left!!!
The remainder of the half was like a slow motion ballet. Somehow we found ourselves attacking their line, but with zero gas left, we seemed bereft of ideas. I suddenly found myself with the ball and angled hard across field, trying to entice someone to chase me, thus breaking up their line. Chunga was outside me and I knew he would come back in. I was going to dummy like I normally would, but changed my mind at the last minute and gave it to him. He seemed to hesitate but then the inside defender slipped! For what seemed like an eternity he looked around before realizing that no one was close enough to touch him. Three or four steps later he had put the ball down and the siren went!
You Beauty.
The Bates brothers (x3), Weapon, Chunga, Slappy, LotW and myself were the only one's who made it to this Australia Day show down. Our pivot, our other pivot and the nuggety rake all failed to show or had other commitments (sacrilege!). Arrayed against us was what appeared to be two teams, some of which were backing up from playing A grade.
The opposition won the toss, but foolishly decided to run into the sun (the only real consideration when you win the toss at Birrong Park). The first half was a ragged affair for the Praedators. The heat and humidity was oppressive, the grass was long and it was hard work. By half time we were down 3-1, a lone try to Mr Dependable (Marto) keeping us in it. Thankfully there were some hopeful signs. We were hanging in there and the opposition seemed a little down on energy for some reason.
The second half was probably the best half of football I've been involved in for a long, long time. Amazingly we managed to lift our effort levels. A dummy to chunga/pass to LotW resulted in him streaking away down the wing. Then a switch of play to Ted gave him some room to stand up their shoddy blindside defense. Timmy chimed in as well and suddenly we were up 4-3 with 10 minutes to go.
What followed was the Siege of Birrong Park, 2006. The opposition were always going to come back and they countered ferociously. Afew penalties and we found ourselves defending our line desperately for 4 or 5 sets back-to-back. Brilliantly, the boys swarmed, shouted, kicked and cussed until we eventually forced them to make a mistake. In the set that followed we managed to ruck it out and kick it deep into their half.
Unfortunately we gave away a penalty at this point and shockingly allowed a big fat gumby to run straight through us and score! 4-4 with almost no time left!!!
The remainder of the half was like a slow motion ballet. Somehow we found ourselves attacking their line, but with zero gas left, we seemed bereft of ideas. I suddenly found myself with the ball and angled hard across field, trying to entice someone to chase me, thus breaking up their line. Chunga was outside me and I knew he would come back in. I was going to dummy like I normally would, but changed my mind at the last minute and gave it to him. He seemed to hesitate but then the inside defender slipped! For what seemed like an eternity he looked around before realizing that no one was close enough to touch him. Three or four steps later he had put the ball down and the siren went!
You Beauty.
posted by lucky at 3:14 pm
1 Comments:
YAY! Finally an oztag post.
Yeh, was indeed a gutsy win. Shame that we defended so hard on our line and their only try in the 2nd half was a soft run through 2 defenders.
But I was dying out there. Lack of conditioning. Lack of speed.
Not mentally there yet. Need to get back to a point where I can contribute more. Been very frustrating as I've felt very below par. But the team as a whole has stood firm.
I truly believe we can go the rest of the season undefeated. This match instilled a lot of belief in our team. In the past, we would have crumbled. But now we can win these games.
Granted next time they'll be more fired up and we will have to match that accordingly.
But it ws a great win to be associated with. Extremely proud of all those who played. We have to enjoy it while we can because who knows how many seasons will be left. It was sad seeing Dave go, one of the foundation players. Others will slowly follow. Enjoy every game, cherish those you play with because all good things will come to end. Though I'm hoping it will still be a while off.
Sh_t, what a rant!
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