Blog

20th July 2019

EASTERN SUBURBS ROOSTERS vs BURNIE

Rugby returned on Saturday after last week’s bye for everybody and commencing non-stop Saturdays until Grand Final Day. Our top of the table Roosters travelled to Devonport to take on the consistent Burnie Emus. We were dealt an early blow with the forfeit of Glenorchy to Devonport
which meant that we had no support from the Stags, and Burnie was able to load up with some Bulls players. Such is life.

The eventuality was that we travelled with 14 players, and that had to do. The 14 included our new Super Winger Wiggy, who was still recovering from a pensioner injury, but in true Wiggy style managed to bend over and get his feet in his boots and had a go.

It didn’t take long for Wiggy to show the backs the true worth of a forward. From the kick-off, the Roosters were awarded a scrum from an Emus knock on. The ball went through the hands, ending with Wiggy who swatted his opponent aside and scored out wide. A surprise for your correspondent
was when Brendan Fazackerly grabbed the tee and slotted the extras. 7 – 0 after two minutes was very acceptable.

At 16 minutes in, Burnie received two penalties in succession, and on the second opted for a scrum. Some simple ball movement from them, and some lax tackling from us saw them score under the posts and level up at 7 – 7.

The game was very tight, with some rugged forward work going on. Andrew Foz Fosatti was making some great hit ups, Rick Miller and Conrad Mitchell were great in defence. When the backs did see the ball, Robbie Casboult was orchestrating things from No. 10, and Jonathon Gobbles Elliott was either making space or making the crucial tackle at No. 12. There was some hard stuff going on, so I have probably missed some significant contributions.

35 minutes gone, the Roosters received a penalty, and from the ensuing lineout, Brendan Elliott took the ball down and ran through the Emus’ line to score out wide. This time Faz was astray. We thought we could get to half time with a 12 – 7 lead. Wrong!

With 39 minutes gone, we received a penalty. Relief turned to outright agony when the kick failed to reach touch. The ball landed in Burnie’s 22, and with nothing to lose, they ran the ball up the touch line dodging in-effective tackles and went over out wide to go to half time at 12 apiece.

The boys were still confident at half time, determined to stamp their authority on the competition. Suddenly, it was not to be with the Emus hi-jacking us at the start by kicking short, taking the kick and handing off to Devonport veteran Mark Meo who scored and converted under the posts. 12 – 19
was not the start the Roosters wanted.

With 29 minutes gone in the half, the Roosters conceded a penalty. Again, the Emus elected to run the ball, with veteran State Captain Brett Bently running everywhere looking for holes until he found one and the Emus again scored an easy try beside the posts. Another conversion, and we were down 12 – 26.

It didn’t get any better for the tiring Roosters. Three minutes later, another penalty, another easy run to the line for the Emus. 12 – 33 didn’t look good.

Right on full time, there was some redemption when the Roosters received a penalty close to the line. There was no way that this was going to end in anything but a try. All the forwards closed in, as well as a few backs who could lean on the ruck, and Leon Thompson got the ball clear and scored, with Faz again adding the extras.

The final result was a fair reflection of the game. A sad reflection was that we could only manage 14 travellers, but those 14 did a mighty job, playing themselves to a stand-still.

The Roosters best, voted by independent observers:
3 votes Jonathon Elliott
2 votes Robbie Casboult
1 vote Kyle Fishpool
King Rooster Marc Whitfield

LADDER AFTER 14 ROUNDS