Unquenchables v Southern Districts

Harlequins Ground
Ref Jim
Captain Colin Read
Man of match IRA Tony
Result S.D 53 BH 10
Cold, bloody cold north wind, chill factor 4 degs. Hence at KO time, minus 5mins, 7 players ready to go, at KO the magnificent 9 (including Burdett again out of retirement) took the field to face the might of S.Dist’s 35. 3 Mins into the game Phil turns up ready to play ,exit Burdett retired again, then players front at regular 2 min intervals until we have 4 reserves plus a blow-in from Uni.
The game was all of 5 mins old when S.D’s score the first of their 9 tries, again, as has happened all year, the tackling was not a standout of our game, even though we looked good with ball in hand, we turned over possession too frequently resulting in run-through tries by S.DS.
From the first KO we took ball down and set up a maul with all forwards doing their job by keeping it tight and moving forward, we did the same about 5 times during the game with positive results, so the game plan for the rest of the year should be a 15 man maul for 80 mins then we may only lose by the odd 5 points. Our first try came through the will-of-the-wisp Pete the Navi taking a quick tap after a Jim the ref penalty and cutting through 6 defenders, Clive failed to convert- the rest of the half was chasing our loose ball and them scoring from our mistakes. Good to see Doug back and handing out the Port at half-time, after tending to all sprains we took the field 21-5 down and a few gee-ups from the injured spectator, Walshie,who at least turned up to support and recruiting our touch player Michael to play, we surged onto the pitch ready to redeem ourselves. By now we are at full strength with 4 on the side—but—same game plan and kicking when in attack from our Uni player, saw us creating gaps in our defence and them running in more soft tries, at this point I think Jim the ref had had enough and sympathetically awarded us 5 penalties in a row marching them back 30 metres and us running in a try through our Uni player,although we were afraid he may, with the tryline open and 5 metres out, kick ahead.By this time we had all reserves on,some carrying injuries, and all looking towards the sheds. Mercifully Jim call time and it was over. On a happy note Kev Sandells and Pete (Silverback) Fuller survived their comebacks and should be ready for next week.
Next week it is at S.Districts V Moorabbin, who had a good win v Maroondah KO 2 pm. As quite a few will be non-playing injured we need as many as can attend, car-pooling from Club noon could be arranged.
Points 3 Tony Tennant (tireless in the tight and a couple of barging runs,unlucky not to have scored)
2 Pete Collins (threatening as always, tackling all day and a good niggling half’s game)
1 Phil Hand (good tight ,supporting game and good spoiling in the lineout)
Not to mention Stuie… there you are I didn’t.