Jersey Girls Kate Smith and Brahman’s dummy-half Tim Crellin, both had big days on Saturday.
With rain threatening, the Jersey Girls would be keen to get their game going before slippery conditions came into play. But the rain didn’t arrive and in 17 deg conditions with a brisk breeze at their backs, the last placed Binalong Girls took on the third placed Bearettes. With first use of the ball, the home side were lead well by Captain Cherrae Smith and Leish Stephens who both made great runs all day and defended stoutly. However the home side were forced into a goal line drop-out after 10 minutes and looked likely to concede points. Nevertheless the Jersey Girls rallied through-out the bellows of coach Phillis and held onto the 0-0 score for the first quarter of the match. Marnie Pack kept mixing the game up to the chagrin of the visitors and the home side put some pressure on the Bearettes. Lucy Hammond and Kate Smith kept good pressure on the North Canberra girls and closing in on half time looked to have the upper hand but the visitors forced another line-dropout, Binalong defended and the girls went for oranges at nil all. When the second half opened, not much changed. Both teams threw everything at each other, a superior side on the ladder, the Bearettes should have been ahead 10-0, however coach Craig Phillis was determined that his girls were not to let a point in. Cara Phillis ran the ball up strongly and defended another line drop-out in the eighth minute. The Jersey Girls gave away 4 penalties to 2 but still did not yield to the end! In spite of having to defend another line drop-out close to full time, the home side forced a very rare nil all draw, much credit to coach Craig Phillis for the result.
When the men went out, they also had first use of the ball in a swirling wind, dropped the ball from the kick-off and conceded a try. How often have we seen this? Anyway back-rower Lachlan Patterson played his heart out and took players up field with him all day. This game in the Canberra League have run out of referees years ago and a lack of touch judges has seen players running out of bounds without penalty, just not good enough, if Clubs need to pay more to get referees, then let this happen. Back to the game, Mick Spencer again attacked and defended well, but it was again James Blair who shone. Blair always takes the ball up strongly and the Bears shut him down. Lloyd Lucas added a lot of direction the home team’s direction but conceded another try in the 17th minute to trail 10-0. But a deft chip kick by half Pete Adam found Dylan Arabin leap high under the Bears posts and dive over for a try and converted it himself to trail 10-6. With only minutes remaining in the half, the Bears Captain Thorley suffered an injury and had to go off, something that may have influenced the final outcome. The visitors scored again to lead 16-6 at half time but with Pete Adam’s wide sweeping movements and James Blair at full flight it was game-on. Dummy-half Tim Crellin was giving good game direction and threatening for the final stanza. When the last section opened, the Bears were clearly concerned as evidenced by the amount of sledging they handed out. They did score again to lead 20-6 but the home side were closing in. At the 16th minute Pete Adam took the odds to the game himself from close in, Dylan Arabin missed the conversion but it was 20-10. The Brahmans were again giving away a heap of penalties and down 9:3 but veteran Beau O’Mara forced his way over wide out with ten remaining, Arabin missed the conversion for a 20-14 score line. To run the game out the home side’s defenders failed, The Bears scored again and the final was a win for North Canberra 26-14. In this writer’s opinion, the Brahmans now have little hope of winning a finals position without defeating Crookwell next Sunday at Memorial Park and then hammering Bungendore at Binalong Rec Ground in the final round. Result: North Canberra 26 def Binalong 14. Tries: Dylan Arabin, P.Adam, B.O’Mara. Goals: D.Arabin. bos Indicus
