West-Subi win Semi Final

Wily Wests Triumph In Last Gasp Heartbreaker

Sunday, 27 August 2006
by Rick Boyd


Wests-Subiaco captain Greg Plimmer broke Palmyra hearts with a last gasp try to steal the Home Building Society preliminary final 22-21, and win a place in next week's grand final against minor premier Nedlands.

The final whistle followed the missed conversion and Wests supporters went into frenzies of delight as the defending premier earned the right to contest a fourth consecutive title, while stunned Palmyra supporters watched in disbelief as their fairytale season came to a shattering conclusion.

The narrowest of wins came on the back of a titanic performance from the much maligned Wests forward pack who dominated possession and territory by a huge margin in the second half.

Palmyra deserve immense credit for finishing the 2006 season as competition runners up from bottom place over the last two years. They led for most of the match with superb opportunism and suffered the cruellest of disappointments to have the game pulled from under them in the final play of the day.

Palmyra led 9-7 after dominating territory in a muddled first half, with both teams suffering from finals nerves.

Paly drew first blood with a penalty goal from flyhalf James Stannard after 3 minutes. Wing Mike Taberer was unable to reply for Wests five minutes later from a similar position as the teams tussled for early dominance.

Wests wrestled downfield with a couple of massive rolling mauls after 15 minutes and flyhalf Aaron Broughton kicked for the corner. Taberer won the race to the ball and scored the try in the corner, and then converted from the sideline.

Palmyra went back onto attack and dominated territory, Stannard kicking a second goal after 23 minutes for hands in the ruck to bring it back to a one point game at 7-6.

Palmyra continued attacking and took the lead 9-7 on the half hour with another Stannard penalty goal from a handy position when Wests were caught with hands in the ruck again -- this time getting a warning from referee Peter Hilgendorf along with it.

Wests rebounded to dominate territory in the later stages of the half but muddled rugby from both teams prevented any further score as handling problems and penalties featured. Palmyra took the narrow 9-7 lead into the break and the prelimary final remained finely balanced.

Palmyra started the second spell in emphatic fashion when Stannard kicked for the line from a penalty for offside. A Wests defender slapped the ball back into play and big wing Nems Momo scooped up the ball on the half volley, shrugged off the tackle and loped 15 metres to score. The conversion from out wide missed but Paly took a 14-7 lead.

Wests worked back down field and ground away at Paly's line with multiple phases but too often kept the ball close to the forwards at the expense of their lethal backline, and conceded penalties that repeatedly let Paly off the hook.

Paly broke out briefly but Wests quickly returned play to the other end of the park, where Taberer missed a moderate penalty chance following a late tackle.

Wests returned to hammering Paly's line with relentless phases. Something had to give and 25 minutes into the half inside centre Bryce Mowl cut back on the angle to score. The conversion hit the posts but Wests came within striking distance at 14-12.

Stung into action, Paly stormed downfield from the kick off and when a kick through wrong-footed a Wests defender, Momo was on hand again to pluck the ball out of the air and race in for a try under the bar. Stannard's conversion was a formality and the Melville club regained their margin at 21-12 despite mimimal second half possession.

Wests returned to attack, hammering Paly's line as time ran out, eventually hooker Blair Baxter scoring out wide as Paly's defence was stretched once too often. The conversion missed and the defending premier was still four points in arrears at 21-17 with five minutes to play.

Wests attacked desperately as the clock ran down, and won a penalty just as it seemed Palmyra would hang on to the win. Broughton kicked for touch, the lineout became a maul and the Wests forwards piled over the line in a mass of bodies.

Supporters for both teams waited in anxious silence as referee Hilgendorf consulted with his touch judge and the goal line judge, who was clearly sighted for the score. The Rugby Park crowd erupted when Hilgendorf confirmed the try and sent Wests through to the grand final.

'They don't come much closer, but we like to entertain,” Wests coach Tony Ladbrook said with dry humour after the game.

Ladrook praised his forwards for their huge second half, and explained the tactic of keeping the ball close to the forwards despite a wealth of talent in the back line.

“It was part of the game plan because of the ground condition,” he said.

“We worked on it last week and it won us the game in the end, didn't it?”

Ladbrook admitted to being worried at trailling Palmyra late in the game despite dominating possession.

“They got the bounce of the ball and built a bit of momentum when really I thought they were struggling,” Ladbrook said.

“We gave away penalties and Stannard hurt us. We had to fight back and score tries.

“The boys never dropped their heads, they stuck to the game plan right to the end, and they did well.

“I always thought we'd have them with our resilience and experience, we never gave up and we came through at the end.”

Ladbrook reserved special praise for team leader Plimmer.

“He leads by example, he doesn't say much, he's pretty quiet, he lets his game do the talking. In games like this you need a captain to stand up.”

Wests have a week to prepare for the grand final against form team and minor premier Nedlands.

“We don't like to look too far ahead, we take each game a week at a time, “ Ladbrook said.

“We'll talk about it on Tuesday. These boys have played them a lot, we know how to beat Nedlands, we know what our strong points are, so we'll give it a good nudge.”