Gulls are effective over UWA ...

Arriving at McGillivray on a fresh Saturday afternoon, the Cott 2s were behind and chasing the game, albeit not having seen the first 65mins, they appeared rudderless in isolating themselves with quick taps from great eagerness without support. Needless to say UWA secured a convincing win. So many games this season that the reserves result is turned over by the Prem teams.
So, onto the 1sts and as the hill filled up with what I imagine was the supportive alumni, we were given a display of the Cott game plan on the main pitch, including a well-rehearsed line out line dance, which when employed at the first line out of the game was stolen. Not spoilt or knocked on, stolen. Think it was the last we saw of it.

A lot of Cott possession in the opening battles of this mid table war didn’t appear to repay much, but simply inaccurate and more hopeful than speculative passes resulted in UWA creeping back into the territory stats. One such change of hands saw the Uni winger, with his fan club behind me, send a snowbound Garryowen up in what should have made for a great contest, only to be gathered by Gull’s #9 who, avoiding the shoulder slap from the chasing hero returned the play 40m plus counter well into the Uni’s 22. A demolished student scrum and the Cott #8 went the lengthy 5m to score untouched to open the visitors account. Minutes were to pass before Cott extended their lead with a barraging charge from their backrow through at least four, too high tackle attempts for the blindside to add to that account.

From the start, UWA looked to play patiently waiting for Cott mistakes and those handling errors to regain possession, a little too patient it seemed as the first quarter entertained us with a third Blue score coming from a quick tapped penalty taking the patient Uni defence by surprise!

So it took three tries to stir up the home side and put something back into the entertainment with a dancing Mr Hardwick, a huge standout in this team, to head up the touch line past four would be tacklers to score a magnificent solo effort only to be brought back by the elegant but Steve Walsh like touch judge, whom earlier had stopped the game to reverse a replacement quite needlessly given everyone else on the he pitch was aware of it.

The second quarter went to the Scarfies, with two inroads made of significant yardage untouched; again. Initially the hero winger caught a bad touch clearance to go round one, inside another and open out into space towards the posts to reach them untouched. The following restart receipt by the Uni lock who then wandered into the centre of the pitch for a 20m canter… untouched against a dog leg of a defence from the following up Cottlesloe “line”. Eventually someone put in a tackle but simple hands allowed the Uni centre to go over to bring them back into the game.

Are clubs spending too much time on defence strategy and organising themselves into specific positions at the expense of some basic tackling technique … not once in this game and very scarce in the Neddies win over Pally did we see any chops or chokes.

A penalty for some positive possession and territory saw the half close at 17-21, a half where the yards gained untouched was matched by the inaccurate passes that saw taps of balls ending up in the opposition hands.

The next half saw the Uni back row come into play a little more with the barraging #6 taking on the whole Cott pack and winning handsomely with not just brute force but a few nimble turns … given the tackles were all at upper body level! But after a Hardwick injury, his presence was missed and the Gulls regained their confidence to allow their half backs to conjure the bonus point score.

Not to be outdone, the other #9 took centre stage to keep the hosts in the game some great box kicks creating the contest as well some searchers, putting the pack on the front foot in the corner by the hill. This play must be a favourite to get the crowd going as against the run of play, as it did eventually work after a scrum in that corner, produced the hands drifting wide to a grateful winger who touched in the far corner.

Heading into the last ten minutes, Cott didn’t want to lose this and the points were going to matter, another Uni try and two bonus points were on offer and it was telling on both sides as injury stoppage added a fair few minutes of nervousness for Gull management.

A penalty awarded as both sides made various dubious attempts to retain possession and Cott moved back ahead to two scores albeit with a yellow card to deal with for the closing minutes. Uni went straight for the man advantage in moving painfully towards their favoured corner, but taking too much time to do so as they reached within a simple few yards before the defence of the whistle brought the game to a close and that damned song was beckoning after a 31-22 scoreline.

It was fairly evident having seen Wests and Nedlands this season that these guys were playing their hearts out to reach finals rugby. The assured confidence of ball retention and in their own teammates is a clear demonstration from those sides of how to reach finals. Simple handling, putting the ball in front of the player to maintain momentum as in pace … gives so much advantage for such a basic skill. That and tackling helps.