Minor Premiers Beaten As Rebels Claim First Premiership

Colin Caird Shield 2nd Grade Match Report: By Paul Cook

Southern Districts have claimed the first Premiership in the club’s history with a come from behind victory over Minor Premiers Eastwood at Concord Oval. Trailing 9-0 after almost half an hour, the Rebels concocted two converted tries before the break for a 5pt lead. Captain Dewet Roos extended the advantage with a penalty early in the second half before a converted try from the Woodies made it a 1pt ball game with ten minutes remaining.

Both sides pushed for the win in the dying moments but it was from a Woodies attack that the Rebels turned over possession to hit them on the counter, with a runaway match winner from replacement Alex Gibbon earning the historic victory. An emotional Roos was overcome by the landmark win at the final whistle:

“I’m almost lost for words, I don’t know what to say. It’s been just awesome to lead this team for the whole year, we had our ups and downs but it’s amazing to think that I am the first club captain to win a Premiership. The boys really had to stay on their toes for that last twenty minutes but we stuck it out which just makes it an even better feeling at the end having come through it.”

The opening quarter saw both sides with chances to establish themselves on the scoreboard but Eastwood were the first to convert pressure into points through the boot of Mick Snowden – penalties in the 6th and 14th minutes sandwiching the Rebels best opportunity when a forward pass halted Ben Connolly’s potential run to the line.

The Woodies 6-0 lead was much to the approval of their raucous band of blue-wigged supporters who were amassing in numbers to cheer on both second and first grades and it wasn’t long before their jubilant mood improved even further. After Roos had missed the chance to narrow the gap in the 16th minute with a failed penalty attempt, further ill discipline from his team mates allowed Snowden to punish them once more.

Having defeated highly fancied Sydney University a week earlier to earn their shot at glory, the Rebels were never going to lay down in the face of adversity and after almost half an hour of plugging away with little to show in terms of genuine threat, their persistence paid off. A rare foray into the opposition twenty-two was repelled initially by some aggressive Eastwood defence but Dennis Swann eventually proved too much of a handful, the burly prop burrowing over from five metres to get Southos on the board.

The try had a polarising effect on both teams. The Rebels suddenly had belief while the Woodies looked hesitant and little errors started creeping in to their game and when Snowden kicked out on the full from outside his twenty-two in the 35th minute, it gave Southos the field position they wanted in order to mount their next assault.

A knock-on from the ensuing line out led to a trio of five metre scrums and after fly-half Ben Volavola had skirted away from the second of them only to be held up over the line, it was a case of third time lucky as the next put in saw no.8 Rubin Vito peel off the back to slam down try number two.

Roos converted both scores to send the underdogs to the sheds with a 5pt lead at 14-9 and head coach Alan Wright was pleased his young side had found a way back into the match after losing their way a little during the half:

“I think because they’re young – particularly the backs – they think that if they’ve done two or three things and they haven’t worked yet, they have to try something else but Eastwood made mistakes as well. They panicked a bit at times and I think when they went to 9-0, they thought they had the game won, switched off a bit and gave us the ball back which made a difference for us.”

The first twenty minutes of the second half saw the Rebels maintain the upper hand but a combination of handling errors, missed penalties and the referee’s whistle prevented them from building an unassailable lead. Roos calmly converted a penalty for offside for an 8pt lead in the 45th minute but couldn’t dissect the posts on the hour after another Eastwood infringement.

In between those two events, the mercurial talents of Volavola came to the fore in the 55th minute when he ghosted through two tackles to break the line but ran out of support in order to profit and a minute before Roos’ unsuccessful kick, a series of attacking raids saw them held up over the line for the second time in the match.

However, you can’t keep a good side down for long and this Woodies team – containing a host of players such as Bleddyn Gant, Marty Plokstys and Simon Norris who have all had significant 1st Grade game time across the year – didn’t finish as Minor Premiers without good reason.

After absorbing all of the Rebels best shots, they struck with a delightfully fashioned uppercut of their own with only 10 minutes left on the clock. A penalty kicked to touch gave them a line out within striking distance and when the ball found fly-half Ben James, he fizzed a pass into the terrific running line of Nathan Powyer to put him through to the posts. Snowden converted and it was a 1pt ball game.

Southos were stung into a response and when a clearing kick from Eastwood was charged down by Luke Smart, the ball was recycled and Roos entrusted his forwards with a mission towards the posts. After they were ruled to have been held-up over the line for a third time, they were then left fuming when the referee penalised them at the ensuing 5 metres scrum for collapsing.

When a Volavola field goal somehow hit both uprights before bouncing to safety with 2 minutes remaining, you wondered if it actually wasn’t meant to be their day and that the Woodies would indeed claim victory with a late strike.

However, there was to be a final twist in the tail as an Eastwood line break inside the Rebels red zone was turned over metres from the line and Volavola quickly read the opportunity for a counter attack. He stepped inside one despairing dive before picking the optimum moment to release replacement Alex Gibbon down the unguarded right flank and the 2010 NSW Country Junior Player of the Year pinned back his ears to sail into the corner and break Eastwood hearts.

Perhaps fittingly, skipper Roos had the last word as he steered his conversion home from the angle and the boys from the Shire had finally broken their Premiership duck.

Southern Districts 24 (Dennis Swann, Rubin Vito, Alex Gibbon tries; Dewet Roos 3 cons, pen) d Eastwood 16 (Nathan Powyer try; Mick Snowden 3 pens, con) at Concord Oval. HT: Southern Districts 14-9. Referee: Steve Hardy

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