It was a successful trip up the M1 to take on GPS for our Premier Women and Colts 1 while the Premier Men came home with mixed emotions after a 36-36 draw.
Premier Women
Bull Sharks won 60-7
Where was it won:
We did the damage out wide. We have worked hard on getting the ball to our edges, and we managed to click on the weekend with the majority of our tries scored by wingers Dianne Waight and Kaelyn Passi.
The highlight:
A hattrick for Dianne Waight who is starting to find form at the right end of the season.
What made you happy:
Our ability to hold on to the ball and build phases through the middle which allowed our talented wingers to profit.
The work to do:
We need to continue to improve on our attack and start to lock in our combinations as we head towards finals footy.
Trademark player:
Jemma Bemrose and Grace Baker. This pair have really stepped up in the collision areas of the game and are leading the team from up front.
With Shannon Symon.
Premier Men
Draw 36-36
On reflection:
It felt a bit like a loss because we led for so much of the game. We did some really good things in attack to score 36 points but there are a few key areas of the game where we are struggling.
Where it was lost:
Driving mauls close to our line have been an Achilles Heel for us this season. GPS didn’t beat us anywhere else on the field except when they had lineout close to our try line. That’s where their scoring came from and that was the difference.
The highlight:
There were two really good set play tries and Rhain Stowers was instrumental in both of them. He is clearly one of the outstanding strike players in the competition.
The work to do:
It is our maul defence. It is not just the fact that it is our Achilles heel, but it is also GPS’ greatest strength. They have scored 12 of their last 14 tries from mauls, so we knew what we needed to do and still couldn’t quite get it done, so we’ll keep working on that.
Trademark player:
Jack Winchester again. He plays a lot of minutes, makes a lot of tackles and gives his all to the team week in and week out.
Colts 1
Bull Sharks won 45-10
Where was it won:
It was our game management and following the game plan. There was a strong wind that we had to play into, and we managed to be up at half time. We knew we had a big advantage in the second half with the wind and we used it very well with Cal Simpson pinning GPS into the corners. From there our line out and forwards working around the corner troubled GPS and we picked up a few tries this way.
The highlight:
Blake Raymond scored an outstanding try when we won a lineout on halfway and moved the ball wide to put Blake into space.
What made you happy:
We identified that if we played direct and hard, we would find opportunity. We scored via a Cal Simpson break and off-load to Nick Hilton to score. Another was a nice little tip pass from Fergus Gillon to Zeb Misios who scored under the posts.
Bull Sharks rugby:
We played the full 70-minutes and didn’t allow GPS to score any points the second half.
The work to do:
Our breakdown accuracy let us down a couple of times, and we need to be better here with the games we have coming up. The positioning of our back three needs to be fixed up as we are letting the ball bounce to often in the back field.
Trademark player
It is hard to pick on the back of a big win, but the forwards collectively made life tough for GPS.
With Rico Gear