WA Country Cup Kicks Off With A Win For Great Southern
WA Country Cup Kicks Off With A Win For Great Southern
Tuesday, May 08, 2007 2:23pm
RugbyWA - WACRU
The WA Country Cup has kicked off, with Great Southern defeating Southwest 25-8 in a physical encounter at Rugby Park on Saturday.
Great Southern started strongly with Katanning speedster Rick Hairo scoring twice and clubmate Storm Tukata kicking three goals in the first half to open up a 17-0 lead.
The main break allowed both Coaches to make their tactical adjustments, and Southwest Coach Scott Webster looked to his forwards for a big second half effort. This appeared to have served the Southwest well with a penalty conversion early in the half to bring the score to 17-3.
Points were hard to come by in the second stanza, and when the opportunity arose for a penalty goal to extend the lead to 20-3 Tukata stepped up and obliged.
Late in the second half, the Great Southern forwards were starting to tire and the Southwest started to gain ascendancy, eventually scoring an unconverted try through forward Greg Gapper to pull the margin back to 20-8.
The revival was short lived, with Great Southern snuffing any idea of a fairytale comeback by scoring a late try through fullback Adriaan Frick to make the score 25-8 to Great Southern.
Both teams were satisfied with their first hit out for the year, and the Southwest will now continue their training for their next match against Geraldton on 19 May.
All players will be vying for a position in the WA Country Team that will be selected at the WA Country Championships being held in Albany over the June long weekend.
