Recap

Reds bounce back against Bushrangers

The Goulburn Workers Club Dirty Reds stormed back into the winner’s circle with a heartening 61-14 win over long-time rivals the Hall Bushrangers.

The confidence, structure and consistency that had been a hallmark of their first five rounds, and which had started to drop off in their last three matches, was back.

Also back was their solid defence and potent attack.

Scoring at a point a minute in the first half, the Reds ran in five tries to one against the Bushrangers. And while that reads a bit like an avalanche, Hall made them work for it.

Regardless of whatever the final score is in a match against the Bushrangers, the encounter is guaranteed to be tough.

Hall, in equal second place going into the match, have given the Reds some ding dong battles, and over the last four years had a slight edge, winning four of the last seven encounters. There’s a lot of history there, and you could probably call them grudge matches.

So both sides were up for it, the Reds were just up for it more.

In the second half, Goulburn still dominated although they eased off the intensity a fraction. Four more Goulburn tries were posted, and one more for Hall, but while the Bushrangers lifted in the second half the result was never in doubt.

Best and fairest players for Goulburn were Mik Webber (3), Aidan Greaves (2), and Henry Cooper (1) with Cooper also names Players’ Player.

Goulburn Dirty Reds 61 (Ben Cheetham 2, Jordan Wilcox, Mik Webber, Aidan Greaves, Matt Spratley, George Boardman, Tynan Rae tries;  Mik Webber 8 conversions) bt Hall Bushrangers 14.