Tornadoes v Fleet, preview

Tornadoes v Fleet, preview

August 17, 2007 - 7:08am
Story by: Sportal

Venue & time

Ballymore, Sunday August 19, 4pm (AEST)

Head to head

Debut clash

Walking wounded & team changes

World Cup-bound Wallaby Berrick Barnes makes his first and only appearance on the Mazda ARC after he was a late scratching from last week's match. He will start at flyhalf, with the experienced Tim Sampson slotting in at inside centre. Josh Mann-Rea replaces Wallabies hooker Sean Hardman, who suffered a slight Achilles tendon strain at training. Former Wallabies tourist Leroy Houston makes his debut for the Tornadoes starting at No.8 for Scott Higginbottom, who moves back to the bench, while Daniel Linde starts at blindside flanker in place of Jared Hanna.

Fleet lock Will Caldwell is out with a groin strain – his place is taken by Matt Whittleston while former Australian Sevens representative Arthur Little comes into the Fleet XV in place of suspended winger Alfi Mafi. Little starts at fullback with Gavin Debartolo switching to the wing. Lock Lachlan McCutcheon and centre Anton La Vin are the new faces on the bench.

Form

Both teams looked flat in the first half of their opening matches in the Mazda ARC but mounted strong comebacks in the second half to give a better indicator of their potential.

The Tornadoes stormed home against the Aces and gave themselves a real chance to win the match but the fact that they had leaked so many points meant the task was too much. But with they will carry some strong momentum into this week's clash.

The Fleet looked a little lost at the start of last week's match before finding their feet and moving play forward through the centres and out wide.

Who's hot

Tornadoes outside centre Blair Connor put in an eye-catching performance in last week's loss to the Aces, while winger Elia Tuqiri showed promise. Up front, Tom McVerry led from the front along with Wallabies lock James Horwill. Reserve scrumhalf Will Genia showed plenty of spark when he came on.

Fleet centre Tom Azar put in a man-of-the-match performance last week, while scrumhalf James Price who came in for Valentine at last minute also impressed. Tim Davidson led from the front and Daniel Halangahu was good as well.

Teams

Ballymore Tornadoes

1. Greg Holmes,
2. Josh Mann-Rea,
3. Shon Siemonek,
4. Ed O’Donoghue,
5. James Horwill,
6. Daniel Linde,
7. Tom McVerry (capt),
8. Leroy Houston,

9. Sam Cordingley,
10. Berrick Barnes,
11. Peter Hynes,
12. Tim Sampson,
13. Blair Connor,
14. Elia Tuqiri,
15. Clinton Schifcofske.

16. Geoff Abram,
17. Ernest Skelton/Brett Naylor (one to be omitted),
18. Jared Hanna,
19. Scott Higginbotham,
20. Will Genia,
21. David Collis,
22. Anthony Sauer.

Sydney Fleet

1. Sean Baker
2. Atonio Halangahu
3. Dayna Edwards
4. Matt Whittleston
5. Adam Byrnes
6. Dean Mumm
7. Tim Davidson [c]
8. Chris Houston
9. James Price
10. Daniel Halangahu
11. Leo Afeaki
12. Tom Azar
13. Morgan Turinui
14. Andrew Barrett
15. Gavin Debartolo

16. Daniel Lewinski
17. Jeremy Tilse
18. Lachlan McCutcheon
19. Patrick McCutcheon
20. Anton La Vin
21. Danny Kroll
22. Jackson Mullane

Traditionally the Gay Fleet and the Cyclones is a boring contest led by aimless kicking and pointless 'one out' tactics. In this game the two teams will try to correct the mistakes of the past and hope to have a free flowing, running rugby game with some sharp, clever kicking.
Gay Fleet to come from behind and take this one in a thriller.

wow...they have played 1 game and they have a "tradition"

:) noice..

And not even against each other :D

Tornadoes down Fleet

August 19, 2007 - 6:01pm
Story by: Sportal

The Ballymore Tornadoes have given Wallabies Greg Holmes, Sam Cordingley and Berrick Barnes a fitting send-off with a 26-20 victory over Sydney Fleet in round two of the Mazda Australian Rugby Championship.

Man-of-the-match Barnes scored a try within seven minutes of making his Tornadoes debut while Cordingley was also busy as the home side held onto a 14-8 half-time lead despite the dreadful overhead conditions.

With heavy showers having fallen steadily from mid-morning, a kicking game was always on the cards but both sets of players defied the wet conditions to produce an exhilarating first-half.

The Tornadoes, under the prompting of the World Cup-bound halves pairing, started as they finished last week's 27-21 loss to the Aces and opened the scoring during their early period of dominance.

Barnes, a late scratching from the season opener with a groin injury, danced through a gaping Sydney defence to go over between the posts just moments after the third umpire had ruled the host's rolling maul had been held up.

Nine minutes later, Peter Hynes fed teenager Blair Connor and his chip and chase was eventually collected by hooker Josh Mann-Rea - playing in place of rested Wallaby front-rower Sean Hardman - who slid over to double Ballymore's advantage.

Morgan Turinui then gave the locals a taste of what's still left in his repertoire by kicking downfield from his own 22, outpacing Tim Sampson and tapping the bouncing ball across the try line before diving over to score.

Next season, Turinui has signed a deal to play for the Queensland Reds in the Super 14 competition.

Tornadoes wing Elia Tuqiri was replaced on 20 minutes after carrying a knock from the opening exchanges while counterpart Leo Afeaki was also helped from the field on the stroke of half-time.

But those changes didn't seem to affect the visitor's rhythm and it drew to within a point when second-rower Matt Whittleston pounced on a loose ball that squirted out the back of a Reds scrum.

The Fleet should really have taken the lead but when fly-half Daniel Halangahu missed the straightforward conversion it was the Tornadoes who responded with a pair of penalties from Clinton Schifcofske.

That proved to be the major difference between the sides with Schifcofske adding his third and fourth penalties in the closing stages to give the host its maiden Mazda ARC victory in front of an impressive 3389-strong crowd.

Daniel Halangahu made some amends after the siren with a late converted try to give the Fleet a bonus point.

Round three sees Sydney host Perth while the Tornadoes travel to Canberra to face the Vikings.

Marc Fox