Well the Siren was back on deck for a truly wonderful - freezing, but wonderful - day of rugby at home.
Some excellent rugby was played by all grades, and the boys were well supported by a great crowd of family and friends, who ate us out of house and home to stay warm.
The under 13s were clearly outclassed on the day being beaten by a well drilled Cowra side - 47-0.
Snow thinks that Cowra may give the Roos a run for their money with their ball handling skills.
Our boys did themselves proud on the day however, as they never gave up and continued to fight for the ball for the entire 40 minutes. Again Darcy Tierney rose to every challenge and had an outstanding game on the wing. He continues to impress each week with his ability to tackle other players well beyond his size and weight range.
Harry Broome also stepped up this week making some solid hit ups from the ruck.
I warmed my voice up at the under 15s match. The under 15s had a great flowing start to the game. They made some excellent backline runs demonstrating some very skilled hands.
They were camped about 10m out from Cowra’s line for about 10 mins when an amazing catch and run by Henry Redfern from a Cowra kick saw the first try being scored in the 15th minute. Henry Wighton narrowly missed the conversion. The latter part of the first half saw some excellent passion shown by Nash and Harry in the hit-ups.
The boys managed to not fold under some sustained pressure from Cowra in the last 10 mins of the half.
The second half started much like the first, with lots of flowing play by both sides. As an aside, it’s great to see Tim Wighton back playing again and really making an impact on the field.
Our last score came from an excellent pick and drive from Harry May off the back of a ruck. Nash did take a high hit in the last two minutes, and was down for a while, but a man-hug from Manno, saw him take to his feet to finish out the game. Final score was Wello 29 Cowra 7.
In full voice for the U17s, this was the best game of the day with the score see-sawing the whole game until Wello put the game beyond doubt in the final minute.
For the first 10 minutes there was some very tough ruck work and tackling from both sides with Wello putting Cowra out over the sideline to try and maintain some running possession.
However, Cowra scored by running around Wello’s backline. After this Wello managed to put some great phases together to make some territory.
A penalty in the last five minutes saw Cowra go ahead. Wello struck back two minutes later with some Ron Ron magic, again superbly converted by Jake Newman.
The game continued very tough and fairly equal until Ethan Brien was sin-binned for five minutes for an offence in the ruck. Cowra scored and converted off the back of having their extra player in the 16th minute, putting them back in front.
Zack Sheppard continued to work hard in the lineouts managing to steal some extra distance each time with his catching ability. Some excellent scrum work by Wello saw them gain some advantage but still not enough to get to the line.
A choice by Cowra to attempt a penalty against a strong wind worked to our advantage when it fell short. Some excellent backline play started by Ron Ron saw Wello get to within 10m.
The forwards again went to work and could smell their chance. They again showed patience with Lincoln Mara and Brad Adamson hitting the ball up well to get us within 1m.
Dylan West showed a good eye, finding the gap off the back of the ruck and diving over the line. Again the try was skilfully converted by Jake Newman.
However, this did not mean the boys were safe as Cowra continued to pepper our line and came close.
It was only when Wello received a penalty in the last 30 seconds that we were able to put the ball out over the sideline and close out the game.
An excellent day of rugby was had by all and it was so much fun to get back into vocal supporters mode.
There is one month to go before I’m back on deck every week. Catch everybody next time.