Hat-Trick Harvey Snatches Last Gasp Win

Round 16 Match Report: By Paul Cook

Parramatta have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory after going down 29-25 at home to Gordon, having led 25-8 with only 10 minutes remaining. In a pulsating last quarter, ill discipline cost the Two Blues as prop Sione Taula was sent off for fighting and replacement scrum half Lua Vailoaloa went to the bin for spoiling to leave the final decisive minutes with fifteen against thirteen.

The Highlanders took full advantage, running in three converted tries with Dave Harvey’s winner – for his hat-trick – coming after the siren. It was a much needed tonic for the visitors with the win only their second in ten games but despite their reward for staying the distance, this has to go down as one that got away for the hosts.

It had all started so well, with a three tries to one half-time advantage for the Two Blues a reflection of their all round game although Gordon were guilty of bombing a few good opportunities through a lack of patience.

Harvey was a key player in the match from the off, knocking over the opening points from a penalty and scoring his side’s first try off the back of a rolling maul. In between those scores, Parra conjured up their own five pointer when Iese Leota and Dan Yakopo combined to release Toese Lealemanua to the line.

The home side were having the better of it at scrum time whilst also finding some joy with plenty of open field running but it was a couple of Gordon errors that really got them on the front foot.

Firstly, winger Wise Cakau decided to run the ball from his own in goal, was chased down by one Parra player and smashed by a second and the spilt ball was run in with glee by Ryan Aniseko. Almost immediately from the restart, an up’n’under from fullback Tom Woods failed to be met by a Gordon challenge, Damien Fakafanua tapped it back to his captain Andrew Cox who drew the tackle and offloaded back to his winger who had too much pace for the cover defence.

The only downside for the Two Blues was Tom Woods’ failure to convert any of the tries – an extra 6pts would have been handy – but as far as Dave Harvey was concerned, a 15-8 half-time deficit was more than enough for the Highlanders to take a long, hard look at themselves during the break:

“I think it was down to who wanted that loose ball more, we were working ourselves hard to get around the corner and didn’t really attack that ball on the ground. We were toeing ahead and trying silly little flick passes and things like that but we tightened up in the 2nd half and it was pretty good.”

Pretty good it was but before they came home with a wet sail they had to endure further punishment at the hands of Parra’s Sevens style counter attack. Woods had finally found his radar in the 43rd minute to extend the lead when a quick tap off the back of a scrum penalty led to an interchange between Lealemanua and Yakopo who fed Fakafanua down the line for his second.

The conversion from Woods made it 25-8 and Parramatta seemed to be heading for their fifth win of the year when it all started to unravel. The exact circumstances of the initial incident and its aftermath are nigh on impossible to retell without the benefit of a video replay but it appeared as though Gordon winger Eric Maroni took exception to a team mate being rucked, Parra prop Sione Taula took exception to Maroni’s protestations, verbals turned into handbags which turned into punches and before you knew it, a melee ensued involving practically every player from both sides.

Once calm had been restored, Taula saw red for a few choice uppercuts and Maroni saw yellow, seemingly for leaving his head in the way of them but there would have been more than a couple of players who could consider themselves lucky not to be singled out as well.

The dye was cast and despite sharing the initial manpower handicap, Taula’s absence from the scrum gave Gordon great heart and would prove pivotal to the outcome. It took until Maroni’s reappearance before the Highlanders could turn their increasing dominance into points, scrum-half Terry Preston fell short with a tap and go near the line but Aisea Nomoa was on hand to drive over and Harvey’s conversion made it a 10pt ball game.

Parramatta’s last stand wasn’t helped when replacement no.9 Lua Vailoaloa was sent to the bin in the 74th minute for laying over the ball and Gordon had a two man advantage. Preston fed Harvey off the ensuing scrum and he dummied infield before slicing through the line for his second. The conversion made it 25-22 and Parra’s thirteen men were now sitting ducks.

Even then, the Two Blues had it within their grasp, having the put in at a scrum as full-time sounded and needing only to hold and kick the ball dead for victory. However, their depowered pack was penalised again and Harvey kicked to touch and went for the jugular.

Parra counter rucked to a standstill but when full-back Sai Vakarau made a charge for the posts and drew the attention of a handful of defenders, there wasn’t enough bodies left to prevent the ever alert Harvey from taking the offload and darting over for the match winner.

Gordon 29 (Dave Harvey 3, Aisea Nomoa tries; Dave Harvey 3 cons, 1 pen) d Parramatta 25 (Damien Fakafanua 2, Toese Lealemanua, Ryan Aniseko tries; Tom Woods 1 con, 1 pen) at Merrylands RSL Park. Referee: James Scholtens

Final Thoughts…

Gordon flyhalf Dave Harvey:

“Just before that scrum packed down, we got a few of the boys together and said ‘Look, this could be the scrum of the season’ and they showed it and put it in. They [Parra] tried to play a few mind games, a few props went down and the time was stopped but our boys really put in well and it worked in our favour, we got the ball and scored the try.

“We could have got touched up again this week but the boys dug deep and it could be a pivotal point in our season. We’re still within touching distance of the top six so I wouldn’t rule us out yet but we’ve still got to work hard and 2nd half displays like that need to happen every week for 80 minutes. I’m at Gordon to play finals footy, all these boys want to do that as well so we’ll keep working hard up until Round 22.”

Parramatta head coach Glen Christini:

“Today would have been win number five and should have been but we didn’t have wins as targets, it’s about performance and we felt like we were on top of this game. We were under control and had the field covered defensively so I was pretty comfortable that we were going to go on with it from there.

“They’ve had words with themselves afterwards and rightly so. They know they’ve let themselves down and that’s a lesson they’ve got to learn, you just can’t do that to yourselves. They’re bitterly disappointed and so they should be. We had it in the bag so it’s gotta hurt and it will hurt and it should hurt but we’ll bounce back from it.”

Gordon head coach John Briggs:

“Today is a famous win for us, no-one would like to think it because it’s just Parramatta at Granville but for me, it was outstanding. We only had six guys today that started the first game of the year against Manly, that’s a big turnover of players, the winger that went on at the end started in 4th Grade, two of the backs started in 3rd Grade so it’s just been one of those years.

“That 2nd half was quite easily our best 40 minutes this year by a long way. It was pretty smart play using pick and go’s and being patient and probably with a bit better execution at times, we could have got my blood pressure down lower than it was in that last 10 minutes!”