The Binalong Brahman’s Youth League side have showed solid form this season resulting in 7 players being awarded representative honours in the Woodbridge Cup side. They include Dylan Arabin, Jake Arabin, Dylan Downey, Harry Morris, Marty Smith, Will Manwaring and Josh Barker. Barker, Jeffrey Brown and Manwaring are pictured in the match against Trundle at Binalong on Saturday. The side ran out winners 48-22 claiming the Minor Premiership.
Jeffrey Brown
Will Manwaring
Sitting at the top of the Woodbridge Cup ladder, the Trundle Boomers moved into Binalong on Saturday to tackle the ninth placed 2015 Premiers. Coming off a 90-0 thrashing of Burrangong the previous week, the Boomers were in for a shock if they thought they could repeat the performance at Binalong last weekend. Not to take anything away from the 2016 front runners, the wonderful team that they are, but at times they looked rattled. The Waldren Construction Brahmans found a way to frustrate this very dynamic side on Binalong’s home ground. These two clubs last met at Berryman Oval on May 28 and the result was a 70-12 victory to Trundle. And last Saturday there were a couple of inexperienced players who came of age, notably Luke Cotter.
The game started in the usual 2016 fashion with Trundle bagging 5 tries in the first 15 minutes to go 24-0 up. The Boomer’s defence was so fierce and comprehensive the home side was often only able to gain 30 metres in a set of tackles, and to begin with Binalong did not complete a lot of their sets. An overcast cool day, it was a pleasure to see the players able to hold their footing most of the time and Haydon Bee crashed over in the 19th minute in the right corner, the conversion was missed but at least the home side were on the board. From that point on, both sides looked different. Trundle’s attack was blunted and Binalong’s looked more the goods. On the home team’s right defence, Max Giles and Luke Cotter dealt with everything thrown at them. Frustration started to grow within the visitors and the penalties started to flow. With the penalties the Brahmans got the metres they desperately needed. Drew Arabin was rewarded for his excellent kicking game in the 34th minute when brother Danny crashed over for a try and Drew converted. Although Trundle had scored prior to this, Binalong had for 20 minutes, contained the visitors bristling attack and added 10 points to their score while Trundle only managed 4 points. Trundle score an average 38 points per game this year and defend just 12 points a match.
Captain Tom Johnson led from the front all day; however he did incur the wrath of the referee late in the second half and spent ten in the bin. Mick Spencer and Andrew Stadtmiller provided good hit-ups and prop Danny Arabin was brilliant all match. So after 40 minutes of tough, hard football the players went to the sheds with the Boomers leading 30-10. Could Binalong keep up this pressure in the second 40? When the teams took the field again, the hosts looked like they would indeed keep the pressure up. Anthony Merritt and James Blair took it right up to Trundle. Readers who have never seen players like Brendon Sense, Adam Porter winger Mike Hando play will not appreciate how difficult these men are to contain. But the Brahmans did for the first 12 minutes. Beau O’Mara was his usual best at cleaning up a concerted attack. However, one problem Binalong have had all year is the inability of their sliding defence to react to a threat. Several times on Saturday, Trundle had a 3 on 1 overlap, there were plenty of defenders but these were all bunched in the centre. In the end, Trundle managed another 4 tries but the defenders kept them honest by forcing tries in the corner as only 1 conversion was successful. A highlight of the match was within 1 minute of full time when Drew Arabin kicked a 40/20, the Brahmans got the ball back and Jade Bannister scored in the left corner. Trundle ran out deserved winners 48-14 and will be Minor Premiers for 2016, but they went home carrying a few more bumps and bruises than they possibly had hoped for.
The Jersey Girls had more success running up a narrow victory 8-6. Madaline Brayshaw and Jess Abnett were strong players in their match along with Christie Johnson at half back. Captain Kayla Smith led from the front and a neat line break saw Johnson in on the left after just 5 minutes. But it was the Tara McGrath-West show again; she split the defence several times and put the team in good field position. Tash Goode performed well but her aggression led to her sin binning after an incident during the second half.
Best news of the day was the Brahmans Calves claiming the 2016 Minor Premiership with a good 48-22 win over the Trundle side. This is ”the complete” under 18’s team with a front row of Innes, Smith and Downey, then in the back row Brown and Wattman with Josh Barker at lock. Lurking at 5/8 is the wonderful Will Manwaring and the Arabin brothers in support. They did let 22 points slip through during the game but appeared, at least most of the time, to be only coasting. Rhys Butt and Corey Leggott seemed to pop up just about anywhere, the boys were to play a deferred game Sunday afternoon at Manildra but no match report available at the time of writing. Next Saturday the Brahmans will play away at Eugowra and the following week at home against Peak Hill for the last game of the season. Result: Trundle 48 def Binalong 14. Tries: H.Bee, Danny Arabin and J.Bannister. Goals: Drew Arabin (2). Referee: Mr. J.Denzil. bos Indicus.
