Recap

Strong Owls outfit too good for Dirty Twos

By CHRIS GORDON

A strong Uni Norths Owls unit proved too good for the Goulburn Dirty Reds second grade side, winning by 26-0 on Saturday at ANU North Oval.

A recent spate of injuries in the club, particularly to regular first graders Mik Webber, Brad Clements and Matt Spratley, has impacted most heavily on reserve grade whose players have had to fill those spots. Add to that reserve grade injuries, including last week’s starting front rower Justin Benn, and the club has had to call in debutantes (including Seth Smart and Jayde Coggan) and familiar faces from season’s past (Jourdan Mita, Corey Withers and Jayden Hunt).

The result, unsurprisingly, was that the Goulburn side lacked cohesion. Individual efforts were present, unity and direction wasn’t.

At half time the Owls led by 19-0 and that in itself seemed a fair effort by the Dirty Twos against a side that had dominated throughout.

Coach Ben Pearson provided targeted advice at the break, emphasising a ten-minute session when the Reds went toe-to-toe with the Owls and impressing upon them that they had it in them to match it with the Owls.

There wasn’t to be a fairly tale ending for Goulburn, but there was a marked improvement. The scrum improved, the contest at the lineout improved and defence lifted.

The Owls were only able to score one converted try in the second half despite many attacking forays. Canberra Clubs in this division are often populated by a number of former premier division players keen for less training and more silverware, so it was no small feat for the Dirty Twos to aim up in the second half against a strong Owls outfit with a very strong scrum.

Next weekend while the rest of the club has the bye, the reserve grade round 8 match against ADFA 3 has been brought forward, starting at 1.30pm at ADFA .

Their next match is against Tuggeranong on 22 May at Goulburn.

Best and fairest players were Rhys Elliott (3) and Jourdan Mita (2) with Jacob Kara and Chris Boardman earning a point each. Boardman was also named Players’ Player.

Uni Norths 26 bt Goulburn 0.

[Show slideshow]