Post by padds on Apr 6, 2021 6:43:35 GMT
Match of the Day was the matchup between top two teams Brisbane Raiders and Auckland Orcas at the Cbus Super Stadium. Brisbane started the season with 4 wins, then lost to Glasgow, before getting back to winning last week with a thrashing of Gold Coast. Since losing in week 2 by 1 point to Gold Coast Auckland have won 4 in a row, although they were very lucky against Hull. Both teams had 10 points, so this was the perfect game to put down a marker for the season. For Brisbane Manu Ma’u was injured last week and replaced by Martin Taupau Apart from odd niggles Auckland have an injury free roster and is part of the reason they are having such a good run.
Both teams were up for this and it showed in the first minute when Auckland were penalised for fighting. Giving penalties away when Gareth Widdop is around is suicidal and he banged over the goal for an early lead. The Orcas suffered a second blow when Ben Currie, playing at prop instead of his usual second row, crawled away from a scrum and limped off. A later assessment said he would miss 3 weeks. The game now developed into an almighty arm wrestle as both teams tested each other. Time was ticking down to halftime when Auckland struck. Sustained pressure by the Orcas produced a penalty for a dangerous tackle and new signing Cameron Smith put the visitors in a great position from which Jesse Ramien found a gap and raced in for his 4th try of the season. Smith converted and Auckland led 6-2 at the break.
Normally Brisbane are fast starters, but they suffered from over enthusiasm from the off, and gave away another penalty, this time for a play the ball infringement. Smith drove the Orcas downfield and from the restart Peta Hiku broke the line to send in Tom Lineham, back on the wing after his exploits in the forwards, for his 4th try of the season. Smith piloted the ball between the sticks, and suddenly Auckland were 10 points ahead. Tempers started to flare a bit from now, and the Raiders received several penalties, especially for head high tackles, but the Orcas defence stayed solid until 2 minutes from time, when Niall Evalds linked up with the three-quarters to go in at the corner, Widdop couldn’t convert and Auckland ran out 12-6 winners. This victory takes them clear at the top, with coach Bill Townsend allegedly suffering from nosebleeds after the match, unaccustomed to such heights.
The early kick-off was the game between old adversaries Hull Kingston Redskins and Adelaide Attitude at the Kcom Stadium, Hull had lost their last 3 games, the last 2 by 1 point and had slid down the table with a 2/4 record. Adelaide were on the rise, however, as after losing their first 3 games they had won their last 3, leaving them in 4th place. After a glut of injuries earlier in the season, coach Dave Paddock has mixed and matched his sides, but now he almost has a clean bill of health so named the same side, while for Attitude Sam Tomkins replaced Josh Griffin, who was carrying a niggle.
Hull kicked off, knowing that another defeat would put them well off course for the play-offs even mow, but Adelaide were the first to make inroads. After 6 minutes they had a try disallowed by the video ref Matt Danby, who presumably didn’t disclose to the match officials he is Coach Paddock’s son in law. A fairly quiet first 15 minutes needed a change, and Cameron Munster came on as the interchange and had an immediate effect. Redskins were attacking Attitude’s line and Munster threw an outrageous dummy to go over for a simple try. Shaun Johnson has cost his side a win in both previous matches by missing vital goals and started off badly in this one with a glaring miss. Adelaide started to get back into the game with several decent breaks, and when Joseph Manu took the ball in his own half he showed great pace to go past Dane Gagai on the outside and win a foot race to the corner flag. Ace goal kicker James Maloney caught the Johnson bug and failed to convert. Man of the Match Waqa Blake was starting to have an effect on the game and when a head high tackle on him resulted in a penalty Maloney made amends by putting Adelaide ahead. Hull started to panic now, and when caught offside Maloney repeated the trick by giving Adelaide a 4 point lead. A grubber kick by the Attitude put the ball on Hull’s 12 metre line and as the hooter sounded Kevin Naiqama ran the ball instead of kicking. He found a gap, but still had 80 metres to run. As the defence covered he feigned a pass to Gagai on his left and then sidestepped a hapless Alexander Brimson to go the distance and touchdown for his 5th try under the sticks. This made him joint top try scorer for the year. Even Johnson could not miss this kick and Hull led 10-8 at the break albeit a little fortunately.
With luck seemingly on their side for a change Redskins started the second stanza invigorated, and when Jackson Hastings put up a bomb on the last tackles Adelaide were guilty of ball watching and Johnson collected the ball unopposed to score his 2nd try of the season. He kicked an easy goal, which seems to be all he can manage nowadays and Hull had extended their lead to 8. Video ref Danby came to Redskins rescue again by disallowing another valid claim by the Attitude, but there was nothing wrong 2 minutes later when Liam Farrell broke some lazy defence by Hull to send in Reed Mahoney for an easy try. Maloney added the extras and the gap was down to 2, no more than the Attitude deserved. Adelaide, however, still had a way to lose the game as Hastings put up another bomb, and once again the visitors held off and let Kalyn Ponga catch it and score near the corner. Johnson again missed the goal and it was all on the line now. Hastings calmed a few nerves when he took the pass on the 4th tackle and with Adelaide expecting him to pass coolly slotted a drop goal to stretch the lead to 2 scores. With Johnson limping now, Hastings was doing most of the kicking and he added a second drop goal just to make sure of the win. Hull won 22-14, but looking at the match stats the best team lost, though that will not be of any solace to Coach McElroy. The after match debrief showed that Johnson has a slight injury and will miss next week’s match.
In a game of the two care-taken sides, Darwin Dragons took on Perth Panthers at the Darwin Dragons Stadium. Darwin had lost their last 2 games and Perth broke their losing sequence of 4 when narrowly beating Hull last week. Dragons welcomed back Bradman Best and Luke Keary but were still missing top scorer Moeaki Fotuaika, who apparently wasn't responding to treatment. Perth were without star hooker Danny Houghton and influential back Bevan French.
Darwin kicked off and found themselves behind after 5 minutes as Perth carried on their good form from last week. After a great run down the left by Kyle Feldt slick handling allowed Man of the Match Luciano Leilua the space to open his team’s account. Craig Hall carried on his impressive form this year with the goal. The Dragons seem to have lost their way recently and Perth made them pay when Oliver Gildart opened his seasons account on 22 minutes. Hall added the 2 and it was suddenly 12-0. Halftime couldn’t come quick enough for Darwin and thankfully the score stayed the same till the break.
Any thoughts of a Dragons comeback were dashed 6 minutes into the second stanza as Gildart helped himself to his 2nd try, assisted by Hall, who managed to miss the goal. It got worse 8 minutes later when Gildart took advantage of poor defence to complete his hat trick. Hall goaled and with 27 minutes remaining Perth led 22-0. At this point it was just a case of how many the Panthers would score, but an injury to Josh Papalii coupled with the lack of effort from the Dragons meant the Panthers could coast. They controlled the game to the last 5 minutes, when Darwin managed to get a consolation try from John Bateman, goaled by Latrell Mitchell. Injuries to Adam Douihei and Matthew Dufty made it an afternoon to forget for the Dragons.
Anfield was the venue for the clash between Merseyside Dockers and Gold Coast Crusade. The Dockers had made a good start with 2 wins, but then had lost 3 and drawn 1, whereas Crusade had started with 5 wins, losing their first game last week at the hands of Brisbane Raiders. Merseyside were in the middle of an injury crisis, just like their English Premier League Football landlords and had 5 players missing, including star man Josh Addo-Carr. Josh Morris replaced Mark Percival, who had a knock, similar to Jake Connor in for Chad Townsend and David Klemmer for big Alex Walmsley. With all their injuries and these changes you’d expect a walkover for Gold Coast. Ryan Matterson and Kodi Nikorima were Crusade’s only real injuries but Alex Johnston returned to fullback, which allowed top scorer Tom Johnstone to move back to the three-quarters.
Gold Coast started as if they were suffering from a hangover from last weeks thrashing and Merseyside took advantage early on. A knock-on by youngster Xavier Coates paid the full price as the Dockers moved the ball along the threes and Kotoni Staggs went over for his 5th try of the season, making him joint top try scorer, He was entrusted with goal kicking duties, but could not add the extras. Staggs made up for this 10 minutes later when he made th chance for Man of the March Jermaine McGilvary to score the first of his 2 tries. Amazingly Staggs added the goal from the touchline and the Dockers led 10-0. Crusade were still playing in a daze and McGilvary added his 2nd on the half hour. This was all his own work as he took the ball 50 metres out and rounded Nick Cotric with ease and stretching away down the touchline to dive acrobatically over the clutching arms of Clint Gutherson. Staggs couldn’t repeat his previous goal, but Merseyside led 14-0 and were in wonderland. To complete the scoring in the first half Josh Morris barrelled his way through weak tackling to score his 2nd try this tear. Not surprisingly Staggs missed his 4th kick at goal, but it didn’t really matter as the Dockers had an 18 point lead at the break.
I for one would like to have been a fly on the wall for Matt Lyon’s halftime rant as Gold Coast came out with a newfound effort. However, Merseyside were in no mood to give away such a handsome lead, and although Junior Paulo scored an individual try on the hour, goaled by Adam Reynolds, that was as far as the comeback went. In fact Merseyside went the closest to a further score as McGilvary was denied a hat trick by the video ref as he was deemed to have touched the side-line as he scored the try. A miniscule decision, maybe the video ref was feeling sorry for the Crusade. The Dockers never looked like giving away this lead and ran out 18-6 winners for the shock of the week. Its a good job Staggs had left his kicking boots at home or the result would have been worse for Gold Coast.
In the late kick-off Sydney Oilers entertained Glasgow Reapers at the Sydney Football Stadium. Sydney went into this game with a record of 1/5, but amazingly their points difference was only -16. Glasgow had made a bad start to the season, but recently had improved with a win and a draw so Coach Simon Laing was looking confident as he downed a bottle of Glasgow Heavy before the game. For the Oilers Ryan Papenhuyzen returned at fullback which allowed James Tedesco to move to the wing. Sonny Bill Williams returned after a knock last week, Tohu Harris returned to the forwards and Angus Chrichton dropped to the subs bench allowing David Nofoaluma to come back. For the Reapers Lachlan Coote came in for Regan Grace , but although several players were carrying slight injuries Hesky must have been happy he could see off Sydney.
The Oilers were desperate for a win as Glasgow kicked off and made a quick start when the Reapers were caught offside. Daly Cherry-Evans kicked the penalty. He kicked a 2nd goal when Glasgow were caught holding down. Sydney were looking good but Lady Luck didn’t shine on Roger Bossert’s boys. Angus Chrichton had a slight knock last week and was on the bench and came on after 18 minutes. He lasted less than 100 seconds as he went sown in a nasty looking tackle and was carried off with a leg injury, Chrichton looked in absolute agony and a source close to the Sydney doctor suggests he will be out for 2 months. While Bossert was reorganising his team Glasgow took advantage and quick movement along the threes saw Mosese Suli score an easy try. Mitchell Moses converted. Sydney kicked off but still weren’t ready and the Reapers struck again. Brenko Lee made a great break from his own half and with half the Oilers team expecting the pass he kept going and scored near the posts. Moses added the 2 and suddenly it was 12-4. Sydney eventually got organised and hit back strongly, culminating in a Taniela Paseka making a line break and handing off to the supporting James Tedesco, who touched down between the sticks. Cherry-Evans converted and the Oilers settled for a 2 point deficit at the break, but Glasgow weren’t reading off the same hymn sheet and in the last minute Lachlan Coote celebrated his return by racing 70 metres before setting up Suli for his 2nd try. Moses added the goal and the Reapers led 18-10 at halftime.
For the first 20 minutes of the second half it was cat and mouse, but Sydney finally made the breakthrough when good forward play led to Alex Twal scoring near the corner flag. DCE missed the conversion, but it was all on now as Sydney pressed. Glasgow settled it with 9 minutes left on the clock as Kieran Foran took a pass on the halfway line and and with the Oilers expecting him to kick for position he dropped a shoulder and sped through the gap he had created. He scooted away to the posts and planted the ball down. Moses added the goal and the Reapers held on to win 24-14.
Next weeks fixtures
Hull Kingston Redskins v Darwin Dragons
Adelaide Attitude v Glasgow Reapers
Gold Coast Crusade v Sydney Oilers
Auckland Orcas v Merseyside Dockers
Perth Panthers v Brisbane Raiders
Both teams were up for this and it showed in the first minute when Auckland were penalised for fighting. Giving penalties away when Gareth Widdop is around is suicidal and he banged over the goal for an early lead. The Orcas suffered a second blow when Ben Currie, playing at prop instead of his usual second row, crawled away from a scrum and limped off. A later assessment said he would miss 3 weeks. The game now developed into an almighty arm wrestle as both teams tested each other. Time was ticking down to halftime when Auckland struck. Sustained pressure by the Orcas produced a penalty for a dangerous tackle and new signing Cameron Smith put the visitors in a great position from which Jesse Ramien found a gap and raced in for his 4th try of the season. Smith converted and Auckland led 6-2 at the break.
Normally Brisbane are fast starters, but they suffered from over enthusiasm from the off, and gave away another penalty, this time for a play the ball infringement. Smith drove the Orcas downfield and from the restart Peta Hiku broke the line to send in Tom Lineham, back on the wing after his exploits in the forwards, for his 4th try of the season. Smith piloted the ball between the sticks, and suddenly Auckland were 10 points ahead. Tempers started to flare a bit from now, and the Raiders received several penalties, especially for head high tackles, but the Orcas defence stayed solid until 2 minutes from time, when Niall Evalds linked up with the three-quarters to go in at the corner, Widdop couldn’t convert and Auckland ran out 12-6 winners. This victory takes them clear at the top, with coach Bill Townsend allegedly suffering from nosebleeds after the match, unaccustomed to such heights.
The early kick-off was the game between old adversaries Hull Kingston Redskins and Adelaide Attitude at the Kcom Stadium, Hull had lost their last 3 games, the last 2 by 1 point and had slid down the table with a 2/4 record. Adelaide were on the rise, however, as after losing their first 3 games they had won their last 3, leaving them in 4th place. After a glut of injuries earlier in the season, coach Dave Paddock has mixed and matched his sides, but now he almost has a clean bill of health so named the same side, while for Attitude Sam Tomkins replaced Josh Griffin, who was carrying a niggle.
Hull kicked off, knowing that another defeat would put them well off course for the play-offs even mow, but Adelaide were the first to make inroads. After 6 minutes they had a try disallowed by the video ref Matt Danby, who presumably didn’t disclose to the match officials he is Coach Paddock’s son in law. A fairly quiet first 15 minutes needed a change, and Cameron Munster came on as the interchange and had an immediate effect. Redskins were attacking Attitude’s line and Munster threw an outrageous dummy to go over for a simple try. Shaun Johnson has cost his side a win in both previous matches by missing vital goals and started off badly in this one with a glaring miss. Adelaide started to get back into the game with several decent breaks, and when Joseph Manu took the ball in his own half he showed great pace to go past Dane Gagai on the outside and win a foot race to the corner flag. Ace goal kicker James Maloney caught the Johnson bug and failed to convert. Man of the Match Waqa Blake was starting to have an effect on the game and when a head high tackle on him resulted in a penalty Maloney made amends by putting Adelaide ahead. Hull started to panic now, and when caught offside Maloney repeated the trick by giving Adelaide a 4 point lead. A grubber kick by the Attitude put the ball on Hull’s 12 metre line and as the hooter sounded Kevin Naiqama ran the ball instead of kicking. He found a gap, but still had 80 metres to run. As the defence covered he feigned a pass to Gagai on his left and then sidestepped a hapless Alexander Brimson to go the distance and touchdown for his 5th try under the sticks. This made him joint top try scorer for the year. Even Johnson could not miss this kick and Hull led 10-8 at the break albeit a little fortunately.
With luck seemingly on their side for a change Redskins started the second stanza invigorated, and when Jackson Hastings put up a bomb on the last tackles Adelaide were guilty of ball watching and Johnson collected the ball unopposed to score his 2nd try of the season. He kicked an easy goal, which seems to be all he can manage nowadays and Hull had extended their lead to 8. Video ref Danby came to Redskins rescue again by disallowing another valid claim by the Attitude, but there was nothing wrong 2 minutes later when Liam Farrell broke some lazy defence by Hull to send in Reed Mahoney for an easy try. Maloney added the extras and the gap was down to 2, no more than the Attitude deserved. Adelaide, however, still had a way to lose the game as Hastings put up another bomb, and once again the visitors held off and let Kalyn Ponga catch it and score near the corner. Johnson again missed the goal and it was all on the line now. Hastings calmed a few nerves when he took the pass on the 4th tackle and with Adelaide expecting him to pass coolly slotted a drop goal to stretch the lead to 2 scores. With Johnson limping now, Hastings was doing most of the kicking and he added a second drop goal just to make sure of the win. Hull won 22-14, but looking at the match stats the best team lost, though that will not be of any solace to Coach McElroy. The after match debrief showed that Johnson has a slight injury and will miss next week’s match.
In a game of the two care-taken sides, Darwin Dragons took on Perth Panthers at the Darwin Dragons Stadium. Darwin had lost their last 2 games and Perth broke their losing sequence of 4 when narrowly beating Hull last week. Dragons welcomed back Bradman Best and Luke Keary but were still missing top scorer Moeaki Fotuaika, who apparently wasn't responding to treatment. Perth were without star hooker Danny Houghton and influential back Bevan French.
Darwin kicked off and found themselves behind after 5 minutes as Perth carried on their good form from last week. After a great run down the left by Kyle Feldt slick handling allowed Man of the Match Luciano Leilua the space to open his team’s account. Craig Hall carried on his impressive form this year with the goal. The Dragons seem to have lost their way recently and Perth made them pay when Oliver Gildart opened his seasons account on 22 minutes. Hall added the 2 and it was suddenly 12-0. Halftime couldn’t come quick enough for Darwin and thankfully the score stayed the same till the break.
Any thoughts of a Dragons comeback were dashed 6 minutes into the second stanza as Gildart helped himself to his 2nd try, assisted by Hall, who managed to miss the goal. It got worse 8 minutes later when Gildart took advantage of poor defence to complete his hat trick. Hall goaled and with 27 minutes remaining Perth led 22-0. At this point it was just a case of how many the Panthers would score, but an injury to Josh Papalii coupled with the lack of effort from the Dragons meant the Panthers could coast. They controlled the game to the last 5 minutes, when Darwin managed to get a consolation try from John Bateman, goaled by Latrell Mitchell. Injuries to Adam Douihei and Matthew Dufty made it an afternoon to forget for the Dragons.
Anfield was the venue for the clash between Merseyside Dockers and Gold Coast Crusade. The Dockers had made a good start with 2 wins, but then had lost 3 and drawn 1, whereas Crusade had started with 5 wins, losing their first game last week at the hands of Brisbane Raiders. Merseyside were in the middle of an injury crisis, just like their English Premier League Football landlords and had 5 players missing, including star man Josh Addo-Carr. Josh Morris replaced Mark Percival, who had a knock, similar to Jake Connor in for Chad Townsend and David Klemmer for big Alex Walmsley. With all their injuries and these changes you’d expect a walkover for Gold Coast. Ryan Matterson and Kodi Nikorima were Crusade’s only real injuries but Alex Johnston returned to fullback, which allowed top scorer Tom Johnstone to move back to the three-quarters.
Gold Coast started as if they were suffering from a hangover from last weeks thrashing and Merseyside took advantage early on. A knock-on by youngster Xavier Coates paid the full price as the Dockers moved the ball along the threes and Kotoni Staggs went over for his 5th try of the season, making him joint top try scorer, He was entrusted with goal kicking duties, but could not add the extras. Staggs made up for this 10 minutes later when he made th chance for Man of the March Jermaine McGilvary to score the first of his 2 tries. Amazingly Staggs added the goal from the touchline and the Dockers led 10-0. Crusade were still playing in a daze and McGilvary added his 2nd on the half hour. This was all his own work as he took the ball 50 metres out and rounded Nick Cotric with ease and stretching away down the touchline to dive acrobatically over the clutching arms of Clint Gutherson. Staggs couldn’t repeat his previous goal, but Merseyside led 14-0 and were in wonderland. To complete the scoring in the first half Josh Morris barrelled his way through weak tackling to score his 2nd try this tear. Not surprisingly Staggs missed his 4th kick at goal, but it didn’t really matter as the Dockers had an 18 point lead at the break.
I for one would like to have been a fly on the wall for Matt Lyon’s halftime rant as Gold Coast came out with a newfound effort. However, Merseyside were in no mood to give away such a handsome lead, and although Junior Paulo scored an individual try on the hour, goaled by Adam Reynolds, that was as far as the comeback went. In fact Merseyside went the closest to a further score as McGilvary was denied a hat trick by the video ref as he was deemed to have touched the side-line as he scored the try. A miniscule decision, maybe the video ref was feeling sorry for the Crusade. The Dockers never looked like giving away this lead and ran out 18-6 winners for the shock of the week. Its a good job Staggs had left his kicking boots at home or the result would have been worse for Gold Coast.
In the late kick-off Sydney Oilers entertained Glasgow Reapers at the Sydney Football Stadium. Sydney went into this game with a record of 1/5, but amazingly their points difference was only -16. Glasgow had made a bad start to the season, but recently had improved with a win and a draw so Coach Simon Laing was looking confident as he downed a bottle of Glasgow Heavy before the game. For the Oilers Ryan Papenhuyzen returned at fullback which allowed James Tedesco to move to the wing. Sonny Bill Williams returned after a knock last week, Tohu Harris returned to the forwards and Angus Chrichton dropped to the subs bench allowing David Nofoaluma to come back. For the Reapers Lachlan Coote came in for Regan Grace , but although several players were carrying slight injuries Hesky must have been happy he could see off Sydney.
The Oilers were desperate for a win as Glasgow kicked off and made a quick start when the Reapers were caught offside. Daly Cherry-Evans kicked the penalty. He kicked a 2nd goal when Glasgow were caught holding down. Sydney were looking good but Lady Luck didn’t shine on Roger Bossert’s boys. Angus Chrichton had a slight knock last week and was on the bench and came on after 18 minutes. He lasted less than 100 seconds as he went sown in a nasty looking tackle and was carried off with a leg injury, Chrichton looked in absolute agony and a source close to the Sydney doctor suggests he will be out for 2 months. While Bossert was reorganising his team Glasgow took advantage and quick movement along the threes saw Mosese Suli score an easy try. Mitchell Moses converted. Sydney kicked off but still weren’t ready and the Reapers struck again. Brenko Lee made a great break from his own half and with half the Oilers team expecting the pass he kept going and scored near the posts. Moses added the 2 and suddenly it was 12-4. Sydney eventually got organised and hit back strongly, culminating in a Taniela Paseka making a line break and handing off to the supporting James Tedesco, who touched down between the sticks. Cherry-Evans converted and the Oilers settled for a 2 point deficit at the break, but Glasgow weren’t reading off the same hymn sheet and in the last minute Lachlan Coote celebrated his return by racing 70 metres before setting up Suli for his 2nd try. Moses added the goal and the Reapers led 18-10 at halftime.
For the first 20 minutes of the second half it was cat and mouse, but Sydney finally made the breakthrough when good forward play led to Alex Twal scoring near the corner flag. DCE missed the conversion, but it was all on now as Sydney pressed. Glasgow settled it with 9 minutes left on the clock as Kieran Foran took a pass on the halfway line and and with the Oilers expecting him to kick for position he dropped a shoulder and sped through the gap he had created. He scooted away to the posts and planted the ball down. Moses added the goal and the Reapers held on to win 24-14.
Next weeks fixtures
Hull Kingston Redskins v Darwin Dragons
Adelaide Attitude v Glasgow Reapers
Gold Coast Crusade v Sydney Oilers
Auckland Orcas v Merseyside Dockers
Perth Panthers v Brisbane Raiders
