Blue skies, a great playing surface and great expectations stood before the Binalong Brahmans and the Harden Hawks on Saturday. A large crowd had arrived early and they milled around the outskirts of Binalong’s Recreation Oval on the occasion of their Reunion Weekend.
On arrival you could feel the sunshine, both above and at ground level and the manner in which proceedings were run meant that the two neighbouring clubs played in extremely good spirit.
The Referee blew time on, and in no time the Brahmans gained possession deep in the Hawk’s territory. A neatly placed chip kick landed then bounced into Harden’s in-goal area, to be gratefully accepted by full back Matt Cooke who leapt up, caught the ball and crashed to the turf opening the score at 4-0. The home team were certainly on fire, from the outset, as this was only the second minute.
Binalong were playing in brand new jumpers, especially re-designed for this their Reunion occasion. The style echoed the original Cronulla guernseys in which Binalong played, back in the 1970s.
The Harden Hawks immediately fought back, however they lost momentum, delivering 2 high tackles. Things looked promising for the Hawks with a big backline rush but their hopes were dashed when Brahman Craig Irwin, took a well timed intercept, and raced 50m to score out wide.
Binalong were in control, but loose passes halted further progress. Harden was penalised when Tyson Astill brought off a magniiicent front-on chest tackle. The Ref had other ideas and the new ruling which has made the sport more attractive to families but ruined the spectacle was enforced.
This stung the Hawks into action, and they produced a flowing movement, with winger Andrew Jones scoring putting the contest at 8-4 to the Village. Harden soon after almost scored again, but threw the ball into touch. Binalong capitalised on this when Matty Cooke who was instrumental for Binalong, scored his second try, this time between the posts, for a half-time score of 14-4 in the Brahman’s favour.
The second half began almost as a carbon copy of the first, when Binalong scored their 4th try, courtesy of Dave Brown. The successful conversion saw the Brahmans claim what looked like an unassailable lead of 20-4. A little shellshocked the Hawks bounced back and made a rush which ended one metre from the line. They kept the pressure on and were rewarded when Daniel Drew carried 2 defenders over the tryline (back page picture) to touch near the posts and in the process closed the gap to 20-10.
Hawk’s C/C Luke Brown put Harden in with a slim chance with a try but this addition was wiped out soon after with a another Binalong try to make the final score 24-14. The Brahmans were worthy winners.
Abed Atallah has helped to bring the gap between the sides closer. He was instrumental for the Hawks and had the Brahman defence scrambling in the latter stages of the game.
The sides will meet again on July 20 at Mclean Oval and the match will no doubt draw the biggest crowd of the competition. To round-off proceedings: the Bi-Annual Trophy – the BRAHMANS/HAWKS Challenge Shield, was presented to the winners. The SHIELD is in MEMORY of ADRIAN SYKES, DUTCHY LEE, JOSH DYBALL of (Binalong), and FRANK BLUNDELL, REG CULLEN, PETER LEITNER of (Harden).
WINGS.
