UWA Break Finals Hoodoo

By RugbyWA Media
Contributors: Josh Zimmerman


University is through to the KWIK Premier Grade grand final after Alan Kingsley held his nerve to nail a 79th minute penalty that gave his side a 19–18 win over Cottesloe.

Kingsley's goal kicking was shaky on the day but he converted the one that mattered to end Cottesloe's incredible winning streak at nine and give University its first final's win in over 20 years.

University had an abundance of territory and possession in the first half and flyhalf Kingsley had two shots at goal and a drop kick attempt before he finally managed to make one count in the 28th minute.

Cottesloe's Dave Cloete struck back immediately however after a rare foray in to University territory resulted in a penalty.

Two minutes later University jumped back in to the lead after a Cottesloe player was penalised for holding on to the ball and Kingsley struck true from 25m out.

The flyhalf had another chance to extend his side's lead to six before the break after Cott were caught entering a ruck from the side but was once again off target. Instead it was the Seagulls who ended the half in front after speedster Nathan Hunt found himself in a bit of space on the wing and managed to zip over in the corner for the game's first try.

Cloete missed the conversion but Cottesloe began the second half with the wind at its back and ahead by 8 – 6.

Tempers began to flare across the park as both sides struggled to turn pressure in to points and in the 50th minute found themselves down to 14 men when Uni's Tim Carslaw and Cott's Dave Kirton were sent to the sideline after a scuffle during a ruck.

Shortly afterwards Cottesloe were awarded a penalty when the touch judge spotted another melee behind play although this time no cards were shown.

Cloete's 45m effort fell just short and instead it was University who scored the next points of the game and reclaimed the lead when centre Andy Finn burst through the Gull's defensive line before cutting back inside and running around to score under the posts.

Kingsley added the extras and University took a five point lead but that advantage was immediately cut back to two when Cloete added a long range penalty.

Kingsley restored the lead to five with ten minutes to play when Cottesloe were again pinged for holding on to the ball.

In the 75th minute Uni again found themselves with 14 on the field after the referee lost patience with their slowing the ball down at the ruck and Cott set up a lineout deep inside Uni's 22.

From that set piece Seagulls flyhalf Sam Parker managed to find one of the few gaps in Uni's defence to dive under the posts for what appeared to be the match winning try.

The conversion was added sending the Cottesloe fans in to hysterics but their celebrations came a moment too soon as Uni won a penalty from the restart and Kingsley held his nerve to convert from 35 metres out kicking directly in to the sun and the wind.

“It was a game that could of gone either way but I'm very relieved that we bounced back well from last week, which we were certainly thinking about, and came away with the win,” said University Coach Steve McFarland.

“We had a lot more energy and a lot more focus today but obviously there is still a lot of work to do.

“We had a few good patches throughout this game but we also gave away a number of penalties and obviously that's a concern.

“We allowed them to go ahead just before half time and we knew it was going to be a tough 40 minutes but we stuck it out and I'm very proud of the improved effort in this game.

“We've got Nedlands at home in the Grand Final next weekend and we couldn't have really asked for much more.

“Now we've got to refocus our energies and make sure that we're ready for next week.”

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No magnanimous comments from Chook?????

A good game all round though.. classic nail biting finals game. Could have gone either way. Very physical and loved watching the Uni Captain (No6?) though some cheap shots in the rucks then spend 5 minutes whining to the touchy that someone what giving a going over in the ruck as well... Uni looked far hungrier and hopefully will give Nedlands more of a game in the Grand Final.

Chook was well and truly plucked.

His comments wouldn't have been intelligible anyway.

Good riddance.

Quote from a forwarded Cott news letter - comments from the head coach......

GUTTED!!!!!!!! Very disappointing way to end the season, I’m still struggling to come to terms with it. As are I think most of the players and staff from the teams who were beaten on the weekend. All games could have gone either way and especially the Premier Grade game, I still feel the better team was beaten.

Congrats to UWA and good luck to them in their quest, but RugbyWA and the Referees Association have a lot to answer for by having the best available referee running the touch and a developing referee blowing the whistle. Who’s to say the result would have been different, we certainly could have closed the game down, but at least we would have had an experienced A panel referee in charge, and I wouldn’t be asking these questions. Its not fair on the poor ref, or the players and officials who worked so hard to get to a showpiece game. I won’t go into the Reserves game, you all saw that.

the toys are out and the dummy has been spat.....pathetic

Not quite sure what game he was at. Typical Chook, one eyed view with his team blameless.

Cott got plenty of good whistle and lots of penalties;to state they were the better team is debatable.

Anyway what is done is done- always next year!

...........um

The ref for the game is an experienced A panel ref.

you mean the game he is whinging about?

Yep. Where the Cott dude (Chook?) is saying "......but at least we would have had an experienced A panel referee in charge...."

So I have pondering this a bit further and it seems to me that the Cott dude should really know better than to make such a statement.

Within the Cott hierarchy there is a fellow who is in a position to advise the Cott people precisely how the appointment of the referee for that match was decided. This fellow was an integral part of the decision-making process.

Should one give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he did advise the Cott people? And that they decided not to let the facts get in the way of the story they wanted published?

Perhaps we should re-name Law 10 from Foul Play to Fowl Play.