Recap

Hall falls to reserve grade Reds

By Chris Gordon

The Goulburn Dirty Reds reserve grade side came back to earth from their emphatic 86-10 win over Easts last week, but still dominated the hall Bushrangers in their 29-19 win at Poidevin Oval on Saturday.

The match was attended by one of the best crowds the Dirty Reds have had for years, no doubt partly due to having two junior matches as curtain-raisers, to having less rugby league matches in town and to having several Bulldog stars playing for the Reds.

Goulburn was first on the board with a Nick Cornish try but spectators who had come to see the rugby league contingent saw a bit less than they’d hoped for. First Nick Cornish was shown a yellow card 21 minutes into the match and then his brother Tyler was given the red card shortly afterwards.

From the sideline it looked like the red card might have related more to sending a message than the incident itself, nonetheless it still left Goulburn two-men down briefly, and then one man down for the bulk of the match.

Hall scored a try in the short section when both brothers were off but, upon his return, Nick Cornish quickly made amends with his second try (and throughout the game with three conversions against his name).

Much like the subsequent first grade match, the match was big on the grinding and sparing on free-flowing, expansive rugby. The Goulburn pack in particular, especially some of the newer players, stepped up for a praiseworthy performance against one of the strongest Bushranger reserve grade sides to visit Goulburn. 

It was a handy win, testing the side in areas that weren’t required of them in last week’s win over Easts. The four-try results also provided Goulburn with a bonus point, keeping them at the top of their table.

Best and fairest points to Harry Newby (3), Izzy Tittor (2) and Harry Winters (1). Players Player was Harry Newby.

Goulburn 29 (Nick Cornish  2, Mitch White, Harry Newby tries, Nick Cornish 3 conversions, Brandon Courts penalty goal) bt Hall 19.

Most photos (the good ones) by PETE OLIVER, with some tacked at the end by CHRIS GORDON.