A beautiful sunny day greeted the team when they arrived at Ryde Oval. The players were confident after a good week of training and the coaches were looking forward to seeing the combinations come together. Unfortunately we lost our captain and flanker Andy Martin to a shoulder injury during the week. We hope he recovers quickly as he’s been outstanding for us so far this year. Fly half Luke Fletcher has taken the reigns as captain and we’re sure he will do a great job too.

The match started with plenty of possession, however the timing of the ball runners and ruck clean outs were not as good as they should have been, which allowed Iggies to spoil the ball at the breakdown. A number of touch finding kicks also failed to find touch, which added pressure to the team, even though we were winning the penalty count by a large margin.

Eventually, the team worked its way down into the corner and a number of 5 metre lineouts and rolling mauls finally resulted in flanker Corey Luyten opening the scoring with an unconverted try.

The team defended well throughout the half, with plenty of time spent on their own line and only conceded a single penalty goal during this time. The half time score stood at 5-3 in our favour.

A number of small adjustments were made at half time and the backs started to see cleaner ball. Winger Andy Summerton was next to score in the corner to take the lead to 10-3.

The breakdowns continued to be a battle as Iggies were really good at getting low over the ball and slowing down or disrupting our ball. A number of penalties allowed us to work our way up the field where number eight Tom Pashley scored our third try, which was converted by replacement winger Dan Higgins.

A fourth try was a possibility after the backs made breaks through a tiring defence, however the ball couldn’t be grounded as we were bundled into touch after the final whistle.

A final score of 17-3 was a good reflection on the match as we had to work really hard to score the tries and our defence was outstanding throughout the entire game.

Scrum half Steve Bruce had a great second half, as he started to get clean ball and some opportunities to have a few runs. Prop Travis Casey had an outstanding game, with some big hits in defence and plenty of hard work at the breakdown. Tom Pashley was an absolute standout, as he ran the ball hard and effectively for the entire match, despite plenty of attention by the defence. All the reserves who came on made an impact.

Overall, the team is starting to gel a bit more each week and there is a really good feeling throughout the squad that we are building something special. Unfortunately the momentum will be slowed with a bye this week, but we’re all looking forward to facing Mosman in two weeks, as this should be a good test against a top four side.

Best & Fairest

3 – Tom Pashley #8

2 – Travis Casey #1

1 – Stephen Bruce #9