Wanneroo gained early bragging rights with an exotic, 44-32 points bonanza win over major competition Perth-Bayswater at Kingsway today in the RugbyWA club competition, sponsored by KWIK Transport and Crane Hire.

After an even start, Wanneroo exploded to an astonishing 27-8 lead with four quickfire tries late in the first spell. The Wanneroo forwards and backs combined superbly in attack through oddly ineffectual Perth-Bayswater defence, and a good, old-fashioned hiding appeared likely.

But the teams swapped roles for much of the second half, the visitors finding overdrive as the home team unwisely tried to defend their lead. And in a disjointed closing stanza, Perth-Bayswater were unable to close the gap and fell short as time ran out.

Perth-Bayswater attacked from the opening whistle, fullback Gareth Cossey slipping through the Wanneroo defence and the Roo-dogs conceding a penalty for coming in the side of the ruck as the black forwards mauled up. Halfback Toby Hohapata obliged with the angled 30 metre kick and the visitors led 5-0 after five minutes.

Wanneroo came straight back to dominate for ten minutes, lock Raymond Alesana scoring a deceptively easy try, charging down the sideline from a tap penalty to brush aside the defence and dive over in the corner after 15 minutes.

Wanneroo stayed slightly ahead of Perth in territory and had the better of the set pieces as both teams jostled for position, with kicking dominating play. But on the half hour, Perth centre Nick Holley took a long kick and ran wide, benefiting from a desperate Wanneroo knock back to pounce on the loose ball for a try in the corner. The conversion missed but Perth retook the lead 8-5.

It proved short-lived as the Roo-dogs surged back on attack. When a Perth clearing kick missed touch, the Wanneroo backs shot into action, big inside centre Palei Masila wrestling over for a try beside the post after 36 minutes. Wing Troy Doughty converted and the Roo-dogs regained a well-deserved lead 12-8.

Four minutes later they were in again, running back another long kick for centre Koiatu Koiatu to cut through and hand on to wing Oliver Viney for the try. Wanneroo looked in command at 17-8 and hammered the point home just before half time when bulky hooker Jacob Smith muscled through the Perth-Bayswater defence, handing on to Viney and then halfback Thomas Servien for a try in the corner.

The floodgates were gaping wide as virtually from the kick-off, Koiatu outflanked the shell-shocked Perth defence with apparent sublime ease and scored in the other corner. Thankfully for Perth, both Wanneroo kickers were having trouble finding the posts and the home side's intimidating 27-8 lead could have been considerably more going into the break.

The Perth-Bayswater defence looked non-existent as Wanneroo ran wide from a midfield ruck for a copybook try to fullback Lawrence van der Linde in the corner two minutes into the opening spell. Koiatu took over the kicking duties but had no more luck than his predecessors with the sideline conversion attempt.

Perth-Bayswater finally found minutes of spirited attack but it was wasted effort as Wanneroo thundered back into action, Koiatu and Alesana combining with superb skills to hand Van Der Linde yet another five pointer in the corner. Koiatu finally managed a booming sideline conversion as the Roo-dogs threatened to make the rest of the game academic at 39-8.

Again Perth lifted to take the game to Waneroo and after retrieving a long kick, wing PJ Pittman belted through the Roo-dogs' defence and inside centre Nathan McCort eluded the remaining tacklers to score close to the posts. Hohapata converted and Perth made up a little ground at 39-15 after ten minutes.

The men in black showed they were in it for the 80 minutes by again taking the game to Wanneroo's 22 for a series of rucks, the ball eventually going blind with a hard, flat pass for lock Cale McCort to lope over out wide and touch down closer to the posts. Hohapata again added the extras and Perth drew closer at 39-22 after 18 minutes,

Now it was Perth on fire and they hammered Wanneroo's line as the Roo-dogs conceded serial penalties, replacement number eight Jock Stanley crashing over from ten metres out from a tap move.

At 39-27 after 23 minutes, the Roo-dogs’ stellar lead was in danger of coming back to earth with a thump, but they kept ahead with a try in the corner to wing James Wheeler after 25 minutes.

Wanneroo played safety in the closing stages, kicking for position to keep Perth-Bayswater at their own end, and continuity broke down as replacements came on and players tired. But indiscipline again cost Wanneroo and Pittman grabbed his second with a hard-charging run down the touchline from a tap penalty just before full time.

In other games, Nedlands' horror start to the season came to an end with a 27-14 win over luckless premiers Kalamunda at Sir Charles Court Reserve, and Palmyra's rocket-propelled rennaissance continued with a 59-6 thrashing of Rockingham at Lark Hill. Associates stayed at the top of the table with a hard-fought 31-28 win over neighbours Cottesloe at Harvey Field, and at McGillivray Oval, University gained their first reward for the season with a healthy 59-22 win over a young Wests-Subiaco team.

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