Recap

Dirty twos defeat rain, wind, weather and Wests

By CHRIS GORDON

The Goulburn Dirty Reds second-grade side continued its trajectory as a tight, cohesive and formidable side in unpleasant conditions at Poidevin Oval on Saturday as they easily accounted for Wests Lions by 34-21.

It was a controversial round against Wests although the match itself was a good, tough, wet weather match. We’ll get to the controversy at the end of the match report.

The ground itself had done an admirable job of coping with the persistent rain from the last several days while most sports in town were postponed, but it was still a little like running across a half-filled blow-up bathing pool. Add to that the drizzle during the game, combined with low temperatures and gusty winds, and you had the adverse conditions that sometimes produce the greatest efforts.

Wests arrived with just 14 players (purportedly to play two full games of rugby) and Goulburn supplied them with first one, and subsequently other players to help them out.

But it was Goulburn to score first when, five minutes in, scrum-half Jimmy Rudd crossed for his first of two tries in the match. Growing from strength this season, Jimmy summed up the situation neatly 5 metres out and, spotting a small gap near the posts, darted alongside his forwards for the try.

Unfortunately his conversion was no more successful than his attempted moustache (which fell somewhere between El Guapo and El Chappo). Nonetheless Goulburn was up 5-0.

Five minutes after that, Brad Sparrow finished up strong lead-up on the right flank for a try out wide that Josh Metz converted and then, seven minutes before the break, James Umu scored his first try for the club with Metz again adding the extras before Wests crossed and converted their own try right on half time for a 19-7 Goulburn lead.

The weather was not kind to the Wests players. Two of them claimed to fall victim to the rare and ultra-specific variant of hypothermia that (a) only affects one team; and (b) is treated by hopping into a car and turning the heater on rather than going to the hospital. Some medical professionals on the sideline believe it may have been a misdiagnosis for just being cold, wet and unhappy but hey, we’re not doctors ok!!!

So the second half restarted with yet more Goulburn players assisting Wests, and with Wests announcing they would forfeit first grade (again, more on that later).

Throughout the match Goulburn’s work at the breakdown had been relentless. In fact across the field there wasn’t a bad Goulburn performance to be found.

Meki Masunu, the club’s find of the year in yet another stellar, line-busting performance, added another try for Goulburn just seven minutes into the second half. Shortly after that Angus Dalglish, on the back of a long run, added another.

Everything was gelling well for Goulburn however managing the replacements and supplying them for both sides undid some of the momentum and Wests lifted, much to their credit, to score converted tries in the 24^th and 29^th minutes.

While some of the momentum had been lost and Goulburn had eased the foot slightly off the pedal in the second half of the second half, Goulburn was in no real danger of losing and Jimmy “El Guapo” Rudd put the icing on the now quite soggy cake with a second try, this one on the buzzer, for the 34-19 or six tries to three win.

To the controversy.

Wests played this match in ACT First Division Second Grade and forfeited the higher grade match.

Competition rules don’t allow this, saying that if you forfeit a match, every match in a lower grade is also forfeited.

Wests reserve grade side has already forfeited two games this season (one to Goulburn at Goulburn in round one, the other to Queanbeyan). Competition rules require a team to leave the competition if it forfeits three times.

I‘ll let smarter people than me figure all of that out but hopefully something can be done to stop this surfeit of forfeits

The game itself was a great exercise for both sides in rugby under tough conditions, and the Wests players present played in very good spirit in a match without excessive penalties and with no need for coloured cards to be produced. And regardless of competition rules, it was great just to get a game under their belts in a season where that isn’t always the case.

For the Dirty Twos, it was an important next step in the ongoing journey of building a team ready to take on all comers in the playoffs.

Best and fairest for Goulburn were Meki Masunu (3), James Usu (2), Liam Levoshko (1) and Jarrod Thompson (1) with Meki Masunu deservedly picking up Players’ Player as well.

Goulburn 34 (Jimmy Rudd 2, James Usu, Meki Masunu, Brad Sparrow tries, Josh Metz 2 conversions) bt Wests Lions 21 (Bretton, Robberds, Unnamed tries, Robberds 3 conversions).

PHOTOS: Pete Oliver

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