Cool, and extremely windy conditions greeted spectators at Ringrose Park today for the Magpies ISP clash with Mounties. An unlikely collection of ISP results this weekend had all gone Wenty’s way, meaning that victory against the Raiders feeder team would keep them in the hunt for finals football.

For Parramatta Eels fans, a bye in the Jersey Flegg Cup meant there was a collection of young stars elevated for this clash. The Under 20s on show included:
Haze Dunster – wing
Ethan Parry – centre
Dylan Brown – half
Salesi Fainga’a – back row
Stefano Utoikamanu – bench prop
Steve Dresler – bench prop

Stoney backed up – good man!

Eels debutant, Ray Stone, backed up from Friday night to captain the team and Cameron King returned from injury. They were joined by NRL players Bevan French and Josh Hoffman. Of interest was the shift of Dane Aukafolau from centre to back row.

An early disallowed try to Dylan Brown prevented me from crowing too early about my prediction of a try from Brown today. Dunster and Hoffman (sounds Hollywood!) provided a good sign of their left side combination in shutting down an early Mounties raid by driving the winger into touch. They would continue to trouble their opposites in both attack and defence for most of the match.

The scoreboard wasn’t troubled for the first fifteen minutes. And then….. French!!!

The Eels flyer stamped his class on the match with his injection into the backline from a scrum set play 30m out from his own line. One moment he was taking the pass, the next he was in open space with nobody getting near him. The gusty winds made the relatively easy conversion too difficult for Brown to convert and the score line remained at 4 nil after 18 minutes.

Only four minutes later, Hiroti extended Wenty’s lead after backing up a break by Davies inside the quarter. The conversion took the score to 10 nil after 22 minutes.

The Ringrose faithful were then left breathless in the following set as French again set the pitch alight. Getting outside the Mounties defence, the Eels speedster exploded away from the covering defence before drawing the fullback and passing to Dylan Brown. The try prediction was fulfilled. A failed conversion had the score remaining at 14 nil with 15 minutes to go in the first half.

An error from Wenty then gifted Mounties territory and possession and they capitalised with a contentious try in the corner. Those close to the action were in little doubt that the player did not get close to grounding the ball. The spectacular sideline conversion narrowed the Wenty lead to 8.

The next few minutes were head scratching. A poor kick for touch by Wenty from a penalty was fumbled by a Mounties player and in doing so the ball was propelled 5 metres forward. A retreating Mounties player then dived on the ball. A penalty? Surely? No. A knock on was called.

Then, as I was questioning the lack of decisions falling Wenty’s way, Kasey Badger made a massive call. On just the second tackle the Mounties prop Liam Knight was brought down in front of Wenty’s posts and gave Badger a spray about the tackle. She responded with a penalty and sending him to the sin bin.

This was almost disastrous for the visitors as Wenty marched downfield with the siren looming. A forward pass call from the touchie as Dunster crossed the line left the half time score remaining at 14 to 6.

The first twelve minutes of the second half didn’t trouble the scoreboard, but back to back tries to Mounties in the 53rd and 61st minutes saw them take a lead of 16 to 14.

The collisions during this period were ferocious, and Flegg prop Steve Dresler was on both the giving and receiving end as he and Liam Knight exchanged greetings. It was like a Flegg tag effort, as “The Dres” took up from Stefano Utoikamanu’s earlier exchanges with the big Mounties unit.

Wenty did not stay behind on the scoreboard for long, with Dane Aukafolau capping a strong performance with a powerful individual try under the posts. Incredibly the conversion from Davies was missed and the Magpies only had a two point advantage going into the final 13 minutes.

Two crucial plays determined the result in the last four minutes.

After marching downfield on the back of a penalty, the Mounties over-cooked a kick and gifted Wenty a seven tackle set.

On the second tackle, Haze Dunster ran powerfully from dummy half and broke into the backfield. The Magpies took full advantage of the territory and earned a penalty. A kick into the in goal was duly fumbled by Mounties with Aukafolau on hand to ground the ball and notch a double and the win.

The five tries to three victory produced a 22 to 16 score line. Unfortunately, the windy conditions made goals difficult to come by.

Bevan created havoc with his pace.

For Wenty, French was a constant menace with his pace. King made a strong return from injury and Stone voluntarily backed up from Friday with a rugged captain’s hand. As mentioned, Aukafolau was one of the strongest performers in his new role in the pack.

But, most readers would be interested in the progress of the young players. Undoubtedly, they have added the energy so often missing from this team.

Dunster played the most impressive game I’ve seen from him and his charge from dummy half was close to the match clinching moment.

Ethan Parry handled the rise in grade with ease and Salesi Fainga’a broke tackles with most carries.

Utoikamanu and Dresler are big units who aren’t afraid to mix it with the older players. They both enjoyed some massive collisions with Liam Knight, the Mounties man-mountain. This was the first senior outing for TCT fave Dresler and it was a typical rugged performance from the Flegg middle forward.

Dylan Brown had a slightly mixed game. His running game was on display as he constantly challenged the defence with his step, pace and surprising power. He left few in doubt of his acceleration when he backed up Bevan French and exploded away from the chasers for his try.

The windy conditions seemed to trouble his usually impressive passing and kicking game. However, this is a young star on the rise and his injection into the Wenty team has added a new dimension to their play.

One more game awaits the Magpies. A win is essential as they push for a finals berth.

Eels forever!

Sixties

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