Recap

Fringe players answer the call but ADFA/RMC too good

By CHRIS GORDON

In ancient nautical times, there was a practice known as “press ganging” in which innocent civilians would find themselves compelled into naval service with little warning and little choice.

A lesser version of it continued into the 1980s and 1990s at the old Rugby Club where innocent drinkers and townsfolk who’d been minding their own business on a quiet Friday night in Market Street would find themselves on a rugby field the following day with no memory of agreeing to play and little or no idea how they’d got there.

On Saturday, so desperate were the available playing numbers that a scaled down version of the practice was engaged. An SOS went out to all the lands via electronic mediums for players to register and play so that as few first-grade players as possible would have to back up and play twice.

And the call was answered. Out of the woodwork, the volunteers came. Three players who’d never played with the club before and three who re-enlisted for the day, answered the call, some literally finishing up their registration minutes before the starting whistle blew.

It’s an engaging tale and one that deserved a happy ending. It didn’t get one. ADFA/RMC defeated Goulburn by 47-26.

Having said that, it was a pretty impressive performance by Goulburn to lose by just seven tries to four given that many of the players hadn’t met before much less trained together. For much of the game the Dirty Twos were still very much in the match.

Despite the result, it was an enjoyable match of a good standard and the continual improvement of some of this year’s newer Dirty Reds was evident.

Best and fairest players for Goulburn were Aidan Greaves (3), Peter Ward (2), Damien O’Brien (1) and Tynan Rae (1) with women’s coach Rob Sheekey, in his 2019 cameo, voted Players Player.

ADFA/RMC 47 bt Goulburn 26 (Tynan Rae 2, Rob Sheekey, Brad Clements tries, Andrew Mewburn 3 conversions).