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A second half resurgence took Cottesloe through to a gritty 18-13 win over Nedlands at McGillivray Oval today in the Rugby WA club rugby competition first grade preliminary final, sponsored by KWIK Crane and Transport Hire.
Nedlands had the better of a tight, nervous first half and led 13-3 early in the second spell, but the Seagulls saved their best for the final half hour to take control with two tries.
It was a far cry from the free-flowing scoring that marked both semi-finals. Tough defence and a war of attrition up front made for a dour, no-frills preliminary final with Cottesloe grinding out a late win with power and patience.
Finals nerves were the order of the day for both teams early as they jostled for position between the 22s, Neddies enjoying the better of the territory.
Neddies came within centimetres of scoring in the corner from a kick through after 12 minutes but it was wasted effort. Referee Julian Pritchard took play back to the 22 for a Cottesloe penalty on the assistant referee's report following a disagreement amongst the forwards in the previous play.
Nedlands continued dominating territory and when Cott was penalised for not rolling away on the 22 after 21 minutes, inside centre Mike Denton slotted an angled goal for the first lead of the game, 3-0.
Cottesloe rebounded for a period of attack in Neddies' half, in a tight preliminary final where an old rugby rivalry was increasingly marked with ill-disciplined outbursts. In one, Nedlands lost Denton after a head high tackle on Cottesloe fullback Sam Parker, and flyhalf David Cloete slotted the angled 30 metre penalty to draw the game at 3-3 after 36 minutes.
Nedlands had an unsuccessful penalty goal attempt for coming in the side of the ruck on the stroke of half time but the sides went into the break at three points apiece, reflecting a tight , edgy game.
Neddies opened the second spell strongly and hammered away in Cottesloe's 22, the forwards charging through a lineout for a try to hooker Joe Ritchie half way between the posts and the sideline. Denton converted the angled goal and Nedlands grabbed a vital 10-3 lead after seven minutes.
The lead increased four minutes later when Denton landed another difficult kick for offside and Neddies started to take control at 13-3.
But 13 minutes in, the Seagulls came back onto attack and a perfectly judged grubber kick to the corner on the blind by Cloete was touched down by wing Ben Mitchell just short of the dead ball line. Cloete added a superb sideline conversion and Cottesloe were right back in it at 13-10.
Cloete was unsuccessful with a long range sideline penalty after 18 minutes, then Nedlands pressured Cott in their 22 but the Seagulls kicked clear and gained a lineout ten metres out from the Royal Blues’ line. The ball went wide where Neddies conceded a sitter penalty and Cloete knocked it over to return the game to a knife edge at 13-13 after 24 minutes.
Cottesloe made further headway after 27 minutes when they gained a free kick, and referee Pritchard added another ten metres after Nedlands were guilty of back-chat. The Seagulls forwards assaulted Nedlands’ line with thumping pick and drives until powerful number 8 Matt Aitken thundered over on the blind for a try in the corner. The sideline conversion missed but Cottesloe went ahead 18-13 with ten minutes to play.
Oddly, Nedlands opted for a 45 metre penalty kick with six minutes to play after Cottesloe lifted the front row of the scrum, but Denton pushed it wide. Nedlands had other chances as time ran out but made errors, and several times kicked vital possession away.
Cottesloe tied up the ball with heavy forward work in the closing stages to run out winners in a close, sometimes bitter preliminary final, and will face Palmyra in the grand final at Members Equity Stadium next Sunday.
http://rugbywa.com.au/news/article,56395.html
And so, the biggest issue to come out of this match, will we see a rampant Fulvio leading the charge through the courthouse doors???![]()
"Bloody oath we did!"
Nathan Sharpe, Legend.
Geez, the ref loved his whistle in the 2nd half!!
Good game to watch though.
From what I saw, Brown wouldn't have made Pally's second grade side, and Swanepoel was too busy shitting himself to contribute anything that their forth grade halfback couldn't have provided in spades.
I hope they both play next week, it will make it easier for us.
Cottesloe morale was as low as a snakes belly, and not one of their comittee would make eye contact with anyone.
Nedlands, for reasons best known to themselves, had decided that the second grade premiership is more important than first, and selected their team accordingly. Even so, they were reasonably competitive.
Palmyra by 40 points next week. Thirty if Cott. don't play Brown.
Bring them on.
i like this Swanepoel kid. he was quite involved today and has a lot of potential. the cott player with the green boots is very good, and very quick. a good player also. glad to see a cott win, Brown was mediocre unfortunately
Be There. Be Heard. Be The Force Behind The Force
Nedlands kicked away too much good posession,Cott were too good on the day & were deserved winners
Brown entered rucks & mauls from an offside position all day with impunity
didnt affect the result though
By the way - there are some great photos from this game here: Perth Sports Photography, 2009 Preliminary Final - Nedlands vs Cottesloe
Dear Lord, if you give us back Johnny Cash, we'll give you Justin Bieber.
If Palmyra play the way they did in the semi-final and Cott play they way they (and Nedlands) did today, you are certainly correct. Your guys did a top job running over Neddies forwards in the semi-final, and you will need to be at that level again. You can;t win without the ball.
And frankly, I don't see what the fuss is about with Brown. One player rarely makes that much difference and Brown certainly did not stand out particularly in this match. He didn't win the game for Cott and if Neddies take any action they are purely looking for a legal loophole to do for them what their players could not do on the field. Swanepoel wasn't the weapon he was last week either.
Coach, naf off, Rick's being nice. Never happened before ...
Rick,As far as i'm aware,Nedlands has not,& will not,seek any action regarding Brown.We were beaten fair & square
If any action was to be taken,it would have needed to be instigated by Wanneroo,which obviously didn't happen
It remains perplexing though,how a player who has not played any club games this season,is eligible for the finals
I really hope RugbyWA clear up this mess once and for-all. 3 games eligibility is the rule for professional players irrespective of the ARU telling RugbyWA to play an ineligible player. It's our comp...the clubs of WA, not the ARU's nor Robbie Deans's. If they want the option of telling us to play their dropped Wallabies, then have all professional players do their 3 games during the season!!!!!
What I really hope they clear up is the allocation of Force players to WA clubs, so that all clubs, as far as is praticable, have access to the second stringers who will actually turn out for their clubs at some stage. Obviously this is not something that will always work out perfectly -- players' contracts end, other players arrive, and players can't be swapped from club to club every year just to balance the numbers. And it's nothing that doesn't happen in places like New Zealand. Clubs can't pre-arrange the number of rep players they will produce and if one club has six at one time and another club has none, that's just the way it goes.
But everyone should bear in mind what the big picture is here. It's all very well saying hands off our comp, but who would you rather see win -- the Wallabies or your local club? Do you really think the Wallabies should be disadvantaged just so some local club can have a theoretically fairer go in WA club rugby? That doesn't make a grain of sense.
The rules are there to stop clubs getting ring-in club players. But if the national coach wants a Wallaby to keep his conditioning up by playing at club level, the only thing anyone in WA should be saying is "just tell us how we can help the Wallabies and we'll do whatever it takes".
OK, it's unfortunate it's at the finals stage -- in principle anyway, because it hasn't made a blind bit of difference that I can see in real terms. But that doesn't change the national team's absolute priority over club rugby.
Perspective, people.
I'd rather see my club win, fuck the wallabies...
when they keep glancing over at me i know they think iam cute and are checking me out -Kalafan 10/3/10
i have difficulty in my life. alot of girls like me but i cannot ask them out. i think they like me cause i am good looking and have a nice smile.- kalafan 3/7/10
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