Recap

Second half redemption for reserve grade Reds

By CHRIS GORDON

Down 12-5 at half time, the Goulburn Dirty Twos fought back with a dynamic second half to beat ADFA by 39-12 in the ACT Monaro Cup reserve grade grand final.

With a dynamic side sprinkled with a bunch of new players, the Dirty Twos have hardly been troubled all year, but at half time they were in plenty of trouble.

Goulburn had seen bugger all possession in the first stanza – maybe as little as twenty percent. The side burned up a lot of juice in the first half defending raid upon raid by ADFA but the defence was steadfast and solid. If even half of their opportunities had led to tries ADFA could have assembled a commanding lead but the Reds held them out for the most part.

Midway through the first half, ADFA finally broke Goulburn’s line out wide for a 5-0 lead but shortly after Eric Brown evened the ledger. Another ADFA try, this time converted put the cadets back in front and Goulburn was in very real danger of losing the premiership after an undefeated run.

The Reds rallied in the second half and with two more tries on the board, one each to Michael Cooke and Nick Cornish, Goulburn edged ahead for a narrow 15-12 lead. 

The turning point for Goulburn came well into the second half when reserve forward Nick Tabner, off the bench, busted through for a hard-fought try. Tabner, one of the club’s smaller forwards with a disproportionally big heart (and an even bigger mouth) had not scored a try in his eight seasons as a Dirty Red, but the one try he now has against his name was one anybody would be proud of.

Tabner had to work hard as he determinedly fought his way through a bunch of defenders to cross the line, and that try finally gave Goulburn a buffer of more than a converted try. 

That broke the gates and three more tries followed for Goulburn… one each to Hamish McCormack, Tyler Cornish and Will Mooney, with McCormack converting two of those.

Goulburn definitely earned the win and could have led by a further 10 points if all of the conversion attempts had found their mark, but to be fair to ADFA, the score didn’t reflect how well they played or how close in standard they were.

It was a fitting finale for skipper Jeff Caldwell who played his final game after 19 seasons and 225 games for the club. 

Player of the match, as named by the referee and touch judges, was Izzy Tittor.

The Goulburn Rugby Club thanks all of the reserve grade players… the hardcore returning regulars, the youngsters coming through and those that joined the club due to their usual teams not playing this year… for completing a dominant season. 

Reserve grade was worst hit by byes and skipped matches, but the Dirty Twos dealt with it with a very positive approach and a very entertaining and undefeated season. A special thanks to those whose match time was even further reduced because having a fuller roster this year meant a fuller bench. Thanks for your patience.

We hope to see you all back on deck for season 2021 and for the visitors who were just passing through, we hope you enjoyed the experience and give a thought to hanging around.

Goulburn 39 (Eric Browne, Michael Cooke, Nick Cornish, Nick Tabner, Hamish McCormack, Tyler Cornish, Will Money tries, Hamish McCormack 2 conversions) bt ADFA 12

Photos: CHRIS GORDON.

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