Jim Honner, Toby Hayden and Royce Kerrison ‘swamp’ the Grenfell Blindside Flanker during the first round of the new look competition at Robert’s Park.
The Harden Red Devils went down to Grenfell 29-0 on April 8 and they were a part of the only match played that weekend in the Southern division of the Central West Rugby Union Competition. West Wyalong had a bye whilst the match between Coota and Temora was postponed. The 2017 Devils conceded 19 points in the first ten minutes during what President Harry Sachs called “Getting used to the fact they were playing footy again.” It didn’t take long to snap in to action and their defensive prowess came to the fore. The Devils only conceded another try for the remainder of the half and in the second stanza only conceded one more to finish with a defeat of 29-0.
It seems it won’t take long for the Devils to find their mojo. Their first match against the Grenfell side saw the northern Rah rahs enter the first round of competition after two strong wins against both the Young Yabbies Reserve Grade side and a sound win of 38-0 over Wagga Aggies. The Devils pre season matches included the Coota 10s where they performed consistently. They went down to rivals Cootamundra 14-19 before claiming a draw against Tumut in a spiteful game with plenty of niggle. They went in to overdrive against Albury and beat the much larger town 12-5.
President Harry Sachs “It was a good day, we got a good crowd down there. The only thing that slowed us up was the lack of guys playing together this season. Once they work out their combinations we will be fine.”
Standouts for Harden included Second Rower Toby Hayden who continues to develop into a rather large lump of a lad whilst Alex Pirie took the ball up well. Big Bad Bustling Ben Brady was strong in defence as always.
Sachs said “Come the second half Grenfell were forced in to chip and chases, they couldn’t go through us which shows we aren’t too far off.” The devils will be continuing to mix it up at training with sessions at the Hard Rock Gym as well as Robert’s Park on the cards for the early part of the season. The ladies side hit the paddock for their second match of the season and will also take on the Tri-Colours in the 7s format of the game at 2:00pm before the men’s match at 2:30pm The rugby club will be open until 9:30pm on Saturday night with food and beverages available.
