Birthday boy James Wallis scored for Harden against Grenfell on Saturday.
The Harden Red Devils have kept themselves on top of the ladder with a resounding 59-7 win over Grenfell at Robert’s Park on Saturday.
The Devils lost the super experienced Adam Walsh after Walsh was split open early in the game, resulting in 12 stitches in the former state capped and Australian schoolboy’s lip.
Harden were a little slow out of the blocks and allowed Grenfell to score the first points. It was all downhill for the men from the north from there ,with Harden’s class showing through.
Although they still have room for improvement, the Devils put on a masterclass of running and counterattacking Rugby, with tries spread across the team. Charlie Brown crossed twice and is proving to be a revelation in the Back Row for Harden. His low centre of gravity and skill at the breakdown is proving vital in securing early ball and pilfering the opposition’s.
The ever present James Wallis went over in the northern end and was rewarded with a try. He is amongst the Devil’s most hard working and consistent each week.
The backs took over from here and were too much for Grenfell to handle.
Max O’Connor is back and playing some fine Rugby, crossing for a meat pie, while Shaid Khalfan continues to lead the Devils around the paddock. He crossed in the first half and also slotted some conversions.
Ed McGeoch is becoming harder to handle each week for the opposition defence and crossed for a try in the second half.
The Harden side continues to be littered with talent and welcomed the addition of former Australian 7s player and local lad, Jacob Taylor. Taylor crossed twice and was very evasive when dealing with the Grenfell backs.
James Price’s experience has been a great addition to Harden with Price leading from the front and able to play both at Half or in the Back Row.
Harden Coach Jack O’Connor said, “Grenfell got the wood over us last year, we certainly prepared as well as we could. The one thing we wanted to focus on was discipline. The games against Young and Boorowa we gave away 10 penalties and that got us a yellow card in both games. We looked at those scorelines and how those games panned out and we can’t fault our effort and our defence, but we were letting ourselves down and allowing teams to march down the field on those penalties. It was reflective in our game against Grenfell and we only gave away one penalty in the whole game.”
Harden tried a number of players in different positions on Saturday and rested a number of other players to ensure that everyone got game time.
Jack Alcorn has also provided plenty of starch after returning from Canada where he was making representative sides.
O’Connor made mention of Judd Kerrison who has been playing very well out of position for Harden and Ed McGeoch who has been starring for Harden out wide alongside Lane Gaudie in the outside backs.
O Connor said, “Jeremy Martin is having a cracking season after the injuries he has had.”
The Devil’s attention now turns to Saturday where they will take on the West Wyalong at Robert’s Park at 3:15pm.
West Wyalong sit in second position on the ladder with 2 wins from 3 attempts. The Weevils knocked off last year’s premiers Coota at West Wyalong last weekend in a 19-7 victory. Nigel Duncan crossed twice for the Weevils. Coota was missing a number of key players, however, West Wyalong have a full squad and are rearing to go against Harden.
