Recap

Dirty Two giant killers undo Owls unbeaten run

By Chris Gordon

When the Uni-North Owls first division second grade side came to Goulburn on Saturday morning they were undefeated. When they went home, they weren’t.

In matches between top of the table and bottom of the table teams, the cellar dwellers rarely get the win, but that’s what happened at Klem Oval on Saturday with Goulburn winning 14-10.

Running into a punishing westerly wind, the Reds punched up the ball through multiple points of attack and busted a gut in shutting down Uni-Norths defence. It took the Owls 26 minutes to get on the board but Goulburn’s dogged defence forced that try out wide making for a failed conversion.

Uni-Norths lead was to be short-lived with Brad Clements crossing for his 51st try for the club, converted by Pat Craig for the 7-5 half-time lead.

Pushing the ball out wide, the Owls scored another unconverted try 10 minutes in to regain the lead at 10-7. Exploiting the strong wind at their backs, Goulburn took the lion’s share of possession but struggled to break through until, 6 minutes from full-time, debutante Laberato Tauoqooqo crossed for his first Dirty Reds try, ably converted by Pat Craig.

Aware that Uni-Norths were more than capable of coming back, the Dirty Twos refused to shut up shop and defended soundly for their second win of the season.

The two tries a piece end result was a fair reckoning of the game, and the fact the Owls tries were pushed out wide was a testimony to the Reds’ close-in defence.

It was great to see the old firm of Brad Clements, Ben Todkill and Jackson Reardon (the latter at hooker, no less!) along with Craig McKillop and the recent debutantes, but much credit must go to the core squad who have continued to improve week to week and who’ve not thrown in the towel in any of their defeats.

The condensed nature of the ladder means the side is just one win outside of the top four. In the land of Coulda-Woulda-Shoulda, if they’d come out on top in their 29-26 loss last week, they’d be in the top four now. The Dirty Two’s season is far from over, especially if they can retain most of the squad that defeated Uni-Norths,  and knocking over the competition leaders this weekend was a powerful signal of intent. 

Goulburn 14 (Atunaisa Vunivalu, Brad Clements tries; Patrick Craig 2 conversions) bt Uni-Norths 10.

Best & Fairest points:

3 – Cooper Camden-Smith
2 – Craig McKillop
1 – Cooper Roberts

Players Player:

Pat Craig

By the Clock:

26 mins – Uni-Norths try (0-5)
33 mins – Brad Clements try, Pat Craig conversion (7-5)

45 mins – Uni-Norths try (7-10)
64 mins – Laberato Tauoqooqo try, Pat Craig conversion (14-10)