Recap

Second half rally not enough for Dirty Twos

By CHRIS GORDON

Despite putting together a dominant second half, the Goulburn Dirty Twos were unable to recover from a sizeable first half deficit, going down to Uni Norths Owls by 31-15.

Recovering from a 26-5 half-time scoreline, Goulburn’s reserve graders gained greater composure in the second half and restricted Uni Norths to just one more try while scoring two of their own through Jack Burke and Justin Benn, but the Owls had done enough work in the first half.

Uni Norths stamped their intent in the first minute with try number one, and added three more before the break with only a try to Michael Cooke as a return on Goulburn’s efforts.

There were strong performances across the park for Goulburn but not a lot of cohesion and continuity. This improved as the match went on but all too late, Goulburn down by five tries to three.

Part of that is a byproduct of new players on the roster and a spate of injuries messing with team lists, but as captain Jack Burke said after the match, that can only be worked on at training, and that won’t be solved until a few more players attend training.

Tryscorer Michael Cooke picked up the Players’ Player award and three best and fairest awards for a hungry display, tirelessly looking for work at the breakdown. Meki Masunu and Jarrod Thompson received two best and fairest points each with one point to Liam Levoshko.

Next weekend Goulburn men’s first and second grade sides have the bye caused by the withdrawal of ADFA, and will be on the road for their next match against Tuggeranong at Viking Park on 21 May.

Uni Norths 31 bt Goulburn 15 (Michael Cooke, Jack Burke, Justin Benn tries).

These photos, CHRIS GORDON.

By the clock:

• 1 min – Uni Norths converted try (0-7)
• 12 mins – Uni Norths converted try (0-14)
• 17 mins – Michael Cooke try (5-14)
• 26 mins – Uni Norths converted try (5-21)
• 35 mins – Uni Norths try (5-26)
• HALF TIME
• 49 mins – Jack Burke try (10-26)
• 53 mins – Uni Norths try (10-31)
• 64 mins – Justin Benn (15-31)