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Pindan Premier Grade – Round 16
Palmyra 25 defeated Kalamunda 10 at Tompkins Park, Alfred Cove
UWA 39 defeated Nedlands 22 at McGillivray Oval, Mt Claremont
Rockingham 18 defeated Cottesloe at Lark Hill Sporting Complex, Port Kennedy
Wests Scarborough 45 defeated Wanneroo 22 at Kingsway Reserve, Landsdale
Associates 34 defeated Perth Bayswater 0 at Pat O’Hara Reserve, Landsdale
Palmyra endured the storm and held off Kalamunda at Tompkins Park to claim a 25-10 win yesterday.
The loss all but ends Kalamunda’s hopes of rising from last season’s Pindan Premier Grade cellar into this year’s finals series.
Strong winds dictated play at the riverside venue as both clubs found themselves working hard defensively when running towards the western end.
Palmyra coach Dave Ball was happy to get the four points in the disjointed affair.
“The wind was such an advantage today,” he said. “As a result, it really was a game of two halves and the wind was massive, so if you kept giving penalties away it really cost you.”
Despite holding a 20-point halftime lead, Ball rued missed chances to put the game beyond doubt in the first stanza.
“At halftime I was fuming; we had tried to play out of our 22 with a howling gale at our backs, so obviously we had to change our game in the second half.”
The only concern for Palmyra in the aftermath is the fitness of centre Hayden Baird, as the integral ball carrier came off midway through the second half favouring his left arm.
Kalamunda coach Josh Heke believed his side could have made better decisions when kicking with the wind.
“We probably did it the hard way,” he said. “We were putting some phases together and we did get some reward, but we could have done it a lot easier and probably a lot quicker.”
It took all of two minutes for the home side to get on the board when a questionable rushed 22m drop out from Kalamunda led to an intercept pass, with quick hands allowing Ray Moloney to cross for the opener.
Two Jarrod Trevanthan penalty goals kept the scoreboard ticking over before Palmyra added a second try when halfback Brian Jurisich slid through a hardworking Kalamunda defence, with the conversion making it 20-0.
The visitors looked as though they might grab their first points against the run of play towards the end of the half, however the Palmyra defence was equal to the task and able to take a 20-point buffer to the break.
A fired-up Kalamunda returned to the field in the second half and immediately went about utilising the wind; while the catch-up football mentality saw the side take some risks, it in turn brought reward when Tali Leasuasu crashed over in the corner for his side’s first try.
The revival mission continued when a perfectly executed rolling maul gave Leasuasu his second.
However, Palmyra quelled the comeback and scored with the final play of the match with Jimmy Tioki’s try the only points of the day at the western end of the ground.
In yesterday’s other matches, Rockingham stunned the competition with one of the upsets of the season with their 18-17 win over Cottesloe; UWA ensured that it was a weekend for the underdogs with a 39-22 win over the top-of-the-table Nedlands; Associates, featuring the added firepower of Emirates Western Force forwards Hugh McMeniman and Angus Cottrell, proved too strong for Perth Bayswater, 34-0; and Wests Scarborough continued their march towards the finals with a 45-22 win over Wanneroo.