Recap

Right Royal flogging for Dirty Twos

By Chris Gordon

After their giant killer display against Uni-Norths last weekend, the Goulburn Dirty Reds second grade rugby team came crashing back to Earth with a 76-5 loss to Royals.

Possibly because of Goulburn’s upset win over the Owls, Royals came to Goulburn very much ready to play. They looked pumped and confident in their pre-match preparations and took little time putting that confidence on the paddock.

This wasn’t a great half of football. A lot of poor choices, and a failure to kick clear into Royals territory locked Goulburn into their own half, and most of that in their own quarter, for an enforced lengthy tackling display. Goulburn had a bunch of potent points of attack that could have changed the flow of the game but sadly the Ferraris remained stuck in the garage as Goulburn’s petrol was chewed up in defence.

In the second half, and more accurately the last quarter, Goulburn picked up substantially. Better decisions, better tactics and a lift in intensity improved their field position and a try was forthcoming for Jack White.

It amounted to strong finish to a forgettable game. It’s hard to figure out the drop in direction from last week’s astonishing effort, even with a few changes in personnel. Certainly Royal’s performance was powerful, polished and clinical with hardly a knock on or forward pass in the match. They were particularly effective at creating overlaps as they switched the ball either side of the field, forcing Goulburn’s outside defenders to choose between the ball-runner and the outside man.

While this game won’t be remembered as one of the all time greats, the Dirty Twos are still very much in the mix for a semi-final spot. They remain 6 points outside the top four with three games remaining – each worth a potential 5 points. To fight their way through they will need to beat the sixth, fourth and third based teams, starting with third placed Wests next weekend at Jamison Oval.

Royals 76 bt Goulburn 5 (Jack White).

Best & Fairest points:

3 – Jack White
2 – Laborato Tauoqooqo
1 – Justin Thompson

Players Player:

Jack White

By the clock:

16 mins – Royals conv try (0-7)
22 mins – Royals conv try (0-14)
25 mins – Royals conv try (0-21)
31 mins – Royals conv try (0-28)
35 mins – Royals conv try (0-35)

38 mins – Royals try (0-47)
41 mins – Royals conv try (0-47)
43 mins – Jack White try (5-47)
46 mins – Royals try (5-52)
56 mins – Royals conv try (5-59)
58 mins – Royals conv try (5-66)
67 mins – Royals try (5-71)
70 mins – Royals try (5-76)