DESPITE a courageous effort the Harden Red Devils were unable to finish the season the way they would have liked, beaten 55-12 by the Cootamundra Tricolours in the grand final of the Oilsplus Central West South Rugby Competition at Coota’s Fisher Park on Saturday.

The Tricolours were undefeated all season going into the decider and were odds on favourites to claim the premiership and despite what appears to be a lop-sided score line, had to work extremely hard for the win.

Harden’s Shahid Khalfan runs in to Man of the Match, Cameron Stanley.

The Devils were camped deep inside their opponents’ half for sustained periods of a tough and uncompromising first stanza, but a combination of slippery conditions and the Tricolours’ relentless defence saw the visitors left empty handed at the break trailing 29-0.

With the weather nothing short of freezing and with sleety rain falling through the game, it would become a battle of the forwards and that is where the Tricolours had the edge. The Cootamundra pack had a large weight advantage against the Devil’s piggies and it became evident in the muddy conditions.

Not to be outdone, the Harden men kept trying until the very end. James Wallis was a standout for Harden.

The match started poorly for the Devils with an error from the kick off and within the space of two minutes, Coota had opened their account through centre Nathan Corby. The Tri Colours big man charged onto an Aaron Byrne pass to slide across the line.

 

Tom Lenehan about to be menaced by the ‘menace’ Matt Berkrey. Berkrey had a great day with the boot and in attack and defence.

Inside Centre Matt Berkrey added the conversion for a 7-0 lead. Berkrey started with some friendly banter and kept it going for the match along with his pin point low trajectory kicks which continued to sail through the posts.

From the kick off the Tricolours were able to work their way downfield through multiple phases before shifting the ball to the left where breakaway Cameron Stanley, who was later to be named man of the match, found space to cross out wide. Stanley caused plenty of problems in the lineout and his experience showed.

Berkrey nailed the sideline conversion and in the blink of an eye, the Devils were down 14-0.

Aka Matapo charges in to the Harden defence.

Aaron Byrne was directing his charges well and he had his big men running off him, inside and out.

Stunned by the opening onslaught, the Devils began to get their share of the ball and were able to build pressure through forwards Clinton Stevens, Toby Haydon and James Wallis, but the Tricolours defence stood firm. Stevens was Harden’s best in the early stages and things went further down hill for Harden when he was forced off with an ankle injury.

Fullback Shahid Khalfan and fly half Tom Lenehan were finding plenty of ball in the hope of unleashing their outside men as the Devils sensed the best chance to break the defence was to play with width.

An unconverted try to winger Ash Hamilton, who won the race to a toed through ball then increased the home side’s lead to 19.

Again the Devils tried to hit back with Ben Lenehan and Rory Bolger combining in an enterprising move down the left, only to see diminutive Coota fullback Paddy Cameron bundle Bolger into touch. Cameron showed just how quick he was with a number of brilliant touches.

With 16 minutes remaining in the half a forced turnover inside their own half saw the Devils on the back foot again, resulting in Coota’s big man Mitchel Coleman-Hardy show surprising speed to dart across.

Again Berkrey navigated the swirling wind to land the conversion from the sideline. The radar was function perfectly in the torrid conditions.

Cameron again denied the Devils with a textbook low tackle on centre Jack O’Connor who was starting to look ominous with ball in hand.

Matt Stadtmiller has a run near Coota’s line.

A penalty goal on the stroke of halftime saw Coota extend the lead to 29.

The Devils appeared to change tactics in the second half, electing to kick early in possession in the hope of finding a spark or forcing their opponents into error, however it was the home side who again scored first after the Devils were pinged for a line out infringement.

From the scrum the Tricolours worked three to four phases towards the line before halfback Charlie Booth peeled off to the right and snuck under the defence.

Both sides were now going to the bench, with the Tricolours adding to their tally with five-pointers to Sam Bush and Pita Herangi.

Gus Shea takes a hit up for the Devils. Shea is showing plenty of promise.

Splitting these two tries was the Devils first points of the match which came about through relentless pressure.

Jeremy Martin has embraced the role of Prop.

Aided by consecutive penalties, the Devils shifted to their left where Tom Lenehan brought the large Harden crowd to their feet by slicing through attempted tackles to score.

Tom Lenehan pins his ears back on his way to the try line late in the second half.

Down 48-5, the Devils would cross again when they forced an error from a Coota scrum on halfway, with Bolger linking with O’Connor, who showed great elusiveness to evade the cover defence and score in the right corner.

Ben Lenehan landed the difficult conversion to take the Devils tally to 12.

Mitch Coleman-Hardy uses his brute strength to split the Harden defence.

In the dying stages the Tricololours scored their eighth and final try of the game through replacement forward Greg Morton.

Bob Scott attracts 3 defenders.

It was a tough loss for the Devils however, they are to be congratulated on making the decider.

The Les Boyd Oval scoreboard with 2 seconds on the clock.

In his post match speech O’Connor praised the Tricolours for being the yard stick of the competition, thanked his players and support staff for their efforts for the years and reserved special mention for the diehard Devils fans who almost matched the home team’s supporters one for one on such a cold and miserable day.

The Tricolours have raised the bar of the South West Comp. Harden went up a gear in 2018 to defeat Temora and Coota are a rung above this year. The 2020 season looks set to be a good one with a resurgence in Rugby Union in the area.

Later this week we will catch up with Harden Coach Jack O’Connor and Coota Coach Mark Elia.

Congratulations to the Tricolours.