Neddies fight back to steal late victory

Pindan Premier Grade – Round 13
Nedlands 31 defeated Wests Scarborough 28 at The Foreshore, Nedlands
Palmyra 44 defeated Associates 24 at Allen Park, Swanbourne
Cottesloe 40 defeated Kalamunda 19 at Harvey Field, Cottesloe
UWA 26 defeated Perth Bayswater 8 at Pat O’Hara Reserve, Morley
Rockingham 55 defeated Wanneroo 7 at Kingsway Reserve, Landsdale

Nedlands has pinched a win at the death against Wests Scarborough at The Foreshore, running out eventual 31-28 winners yesterday.

Having trailed for the majority of the match, the home side was able to produce a moment of brilliance when they needed it most – a 60-metre effort from pacey winger Jake Wilson proving to be the match winner.

Despite a raft of game-ending injuries throughout the match – including key playmaker Fred Tuua, Nedlands was able to galvanize in the final quarter of the match to produce win number 12 for the season.

Nedlands coach Tony Ball was ecstatic with his side’s ability to adjust to disruptions throughout the game.

“The boys were incredible today,” he said. “To lose the midfield and a few others to injury along the way says a lot about our depth and our character.”

“That was all heart at the end there, there comes a time when you have to dig deep to get a result and we managed to do that today.”

Wests Scarborough coach Greg Plimmer was pleased with his side’s effort despite surrendering the four points.

“I’m devastated for the boys, I couldn’t have asked for much more,” he said. “We knew Nedlands were going to come back at us and unfortunately we just couldn’t hold on at the end.”

Despite both sides missing early offerings for points, it was Nedlands who hit the scoreboard first when some smart Michael Botes play around the ruck set up Joe Richie for his side’s first try.

Tuua landed the conversion and backed it up with a penalty goal two minutes later, establishing a 10-0 lead for the home side after 20 minutes.

From there it was all Wests Scarborough, who peppered the left wing on attack with plenty of success with strong runs putting flyhalf Teava Terangi within point scoring range – the playmaker obliging with two straight efforts to reduce the deficit to four.

As the Nedlands injuries began to mount, Wests Scarborough went on the front foot. Lock Riley Winter dived over for a converted try before Terangi split the uprights again leading into half-time to put the visitors on track for an upset with a four-point buffer at the break.

A converted try to Wests Scarbrough scrumhalf Michael Marshall opened the second half before Luke Doherty crossed for another Nedlands try to return the margin to four points.

When West Scarborough’s Pierre Roberts broke from a midfield scrum and went over untouched to score again for the visitors, the conversion set up a 28-17 lead with 15 minutes to play.

Staring down the barrel of just their second loss of the season, the home side returned fire when Richard Naylor set up Alvin Nau to cross with ten minutes remaining, before Wilson followed suit with just two minutes on the clock to snatch the win.

In yesterday's other matches, UWA defeated Perth Bayswater, 26-8; Palmyra accounted for Associates, 44-24; Cottesloe continued on their winning way against Kalamunda, 40-19; and Rockingham thumped Wanneroo, 55-7.