Last week the Times had little option but to downsize the paper, so we are playing catch up like a team behind by 20 at Half time.
Here is last week’s Devils FB report.
The Harden Red Devils are dominating the South West Cup competition, now adding a massive 35 – 24 win against last year’s premiers, Boorowa, to their 2026 resume in front of a packed home crowd.
The 50th-year celebrations were kicked off by a red-rinse and finished with the Black-Tie Ball.
The men’s team then kept the foot on Boorowa. From the first whistle, the game was physical and hard-fought from both teams. With a few errors from Harden, Boorowa were able to capitalise throughout the game. However, the defence from Harden stood strong and saw the men in red get over the line 5 times to Boorowa’s 3. A massive effort from Harden, as they have now managed to reclaim the Annie McGuigan shield and place themselves 5 points clear at the top of the table!
Points: 3 – Nick Alcorn, 2 – Oliver Minehan, 1 – Jeremy Martin.
Players’ Player – Liam Rountree.
Coach Jack Alcorn said the Devils were hungry and determined for the win, which was the drive that got them over the finish line.
“It was something that we’ve been working towards, and what we knew was going to be our biggest test so far throughout the season. We were prepared, we had numbers, we had depth. Once you bring all that together, that’s going to likely equal a win.
“It was a good, solid, physical game. We were our own worst enemies when it came to a little bit of lack of discipline and a few dropped balls and things, but that was probably more because people were very excited and very keen, so it’s not something that you’re going to get upset about, but it’s definitely something that we need to work on.
“I don’t think there was ever a point where we went, oh, we’ve got this one hundred per cent, but we definitely felt like we were in control of the game for a fair bit of it.
“There was a massive turnout as it was a home game. We had our 50-year Ball on as well, so there were a lot of people, but we were excited, and it definitely helped our boys having a lot of support there, having people there that are one hundred per cent behind us, and it was awesome to see.
“We are going to just keep working on our fundamentals. We saw how well all that came together last week, and we’ll keep chipping away at that. If we can keep sticking to our game plan and keep that want in the team, we’re going to have a fairly solid chance.
“Thanks to everyone involved over the last weekend, that was one of the best weekends that we’ve had in Harden rugby for a long time, so everyone should be really proud of what we’ve achieved.”
Unfortunately, Boorowa’s women’s team were unable to field a team this week; those who could still come across came to play our girls in a game of 7s. The game was played in great spirits, and the Harden girls were able to get over the line plenty of times through the game to make for a
clean 57-7 win. Points: 3 – Sharni Manton, 2 – Kelsey Hogan, 1 – Jess Ryan.
The men went on the Condo Trip on Saturday and it didn’t quite go as planned. The Condo boys can be strong at home and they know any team coming their way has the diehards in the team. About 30 blokes lined up for the Boorowa home game for Harden but about half were unable to find Condo on the map the following week. This is nothing new as many old stories of players dragged out of pubs (when they were open that is) on to a bus added some grunt to the team over the last 50 years as told at the reunion dinner. It went 29-24 Condo’s way, but let’s see how they go coming here to fortress Harden.
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