Kentwell Cup 14 – 40
The challenge was immense, up against last year’s Kentwell Cup winners. After giving up an easy try in the first, 2 minutes. We struck back with a terrific team try, with Luke Bowden again showing, a turn of speed & fend to split Drummonyne open & score under the posts. Knox lead 7-5. Sadly, we leaked another soft try after 10 minutes, to trail 7-12. Like previous weeks, we dominated for the next 30 minutes without getting over the line. Right on half-time, we gave up another soft try, to trail 7-19 at the break. Our lineout & scrum were performing well but our handling kept letting us down. We simply did not respect possession & how hard it was to win.
The second half, started like the first, giving up an easy try from a 5 metre scrum. We hit back with a cracking try, Andy Jones, flick pass inside to Lachy Scott to walk over under the posts. 14-26 & we are back in the game. Sadly, we lost Mammoth/Rohan Cook to a head knock & our scrum dominance & any chance rapidly disappeared out the window. Final score 14-40. 6 tries to 2. Not a smashing but we have lots to improve, like holding onto possession, with better hands & not kicking away possession!
3 – Fraser Bleach
2 – Luke Bowden
1 – Saini Sione
Barbour Cup 5 – 19
A very gritty defensive first half performance saw us repel attack after attack in our own 22. When exiting our defensive lineout was working very well, stealing a lot of Drummoyne ball. Unfortunately our mistakes came in Drummoyne’s 22 relieving the pressure we had built. Drummoyne with two tries off kicks got our heads down but we rallied again to be back in it, scoring in the corner with 20 mins to go to make it 12-5. A try at the death to Drummoyne after a missed tackle saw the end score 19-5. A much better performance than last week with a shoutout to Hong Duncan for his debut in a Knobs jersey (who also picked up man of the match).
3 – Hong Duncan
2 – Alex Reidy
1 – Ollie Korthout & Fred Guest
Judd Cup (BrothersIVBrothers) 54 – 0
Brothers lV Brothers returned for its 9th edition on Saturday. I always question every year if the legacy is fading or the interest waning from our ageing squad. This year we wanted to engage a new generation and bring them out of the woodwork and back to the fold.
As ever the numbers were swelling and interest high from the squad from the get go.
After swallowing the disappointment from a cancelled lunch on Friday, there was a gathering at the Choyan for pre match speeches and special edition lunch and debrief to gather us all together as one community. The feeling was amazing as this is one special unit of people we are so lucky to have as part of our lives.
22 cats gathered for the Jersey presentation from none other than 400 gamer Nick Nilsson, this guy embodies the club and is a special man. We ran a superb warm up as if most of the squad had trained together for months.
With that, we hit the game with a bang – some scintillating tries were scored and some monster hits from blokes getting into their late 30s and some mid 40s !
The squad was led once again by the GOAT Hamish Bayliss – surely he still could run the Kentwell team if his body would take it.
The score was ultimately inconsequential as the Brothers team notched up their 10th win from 9 starts (including the Orange Tours).
The thirst from the squad is to go again next year and most definitely return to Orange for the 3rd and final test. Dam Morelli took out the Tim Cussell Cup and was a usual phenomenon across the pitch.
To play with my close friends from numerous eras is an absolute honour and as a family we are humbled by the commitment and love for this concept and the legacy it stands for.
We look forward to gathering for the Lunch with a date set soon but hoping we can get a few of the legends to put the boots on for a few more games this season to help us out whilst we continue to rebuild the club brick by brick !
Tim Cussell Medal – Dan Morelli