Recap

Reds book a spot in Preliminary Final

By CHRIS GORDON

The Goulburn Workers Club Dirty Reds will battle ADFA next weekend to see who’ll meet Gungahlin in the grand final, after defeating the Queanbeyan Whites by 30-12 at Viking Park on Sunday.

Queanbeyan defeated the Reds just two weeks ago in the final round of the season proper, but it was Goulburn that came up with the chockies when it mattered.

Goulburn’s already crowded front row casualty ward added another member this week when Chris Boardman fractured his skull.

After the first few scrums, there was a recurrent theme of Queanbeyan smack talk that Goulburn couldn’t win the game if they couldn’t win a scrum.

Two problems there… even with their depleted ranks, the Dirty Reds won some important scrums. And they won the game.

With plenty of ticker on display, the Reds were almost undeniable inside Queanbeyan’s quarter.

Quick Goulburn phases, and Queanbeyan’s bulkier but less mobile pack saw them stretched thin at the sides. The Reds exploited that, although their first try, to Brad Clements, was smack bang up the guts.

Matt Spratley scored his 24^th try of the season out wide and Mik Webber added two conversions and two penalties. Goulburn held a comfortable 20-7 lead at the break although their focus and intention drifted a little towards the end with a few breakdown losses.

Coach Ben Pearson asked for more intensity at the break, and the Reds provided it in the second half but so did the Whites.

The Goulburn scrum lifted in the second half after some half-time retooling by Pearson, and this limited Queanbeyan’s reliance on it as their key attacking platform

No longer confident that their scrum alone would win them the game, Queanbeyan took Goulburn on more frequently at the line and their big boys took a power of stopping. While their bigger line-breakers started to make inroads and good yards into Goulburn territory, they soon seemed to be running on tired legs.

Both sides made use of their benches and if anything, Goulburn seemed to get the better end of the deal.

Queanbeyan finished strongly but so did the Reds. Each scored a second half try, Goulburn’s converted by Mik Webber and Queanbeyan’s unconverted.

Queanbeyan went down swinging but in the end time, and the season, got away from them.

Gungahlin nocked over ADFA over the weekend to secure the first Grand Final spot, now it’s a matter of who wins between Goulburn and ADFA in next weekend’s preliminary final to see who joins them.

Goulburn 30 (Brad Clements, Matt Spratley, Simon Graves tries, Mik Webber two conversions, two penalty goals) bt Queanbeyan 12.

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