First Grade Match Report Vs Kariong Saturday 1st June 2013

After last week’s narrow loss to Gosford Coach Jenkins was pulling out what is left of his hair seeking a solution to get the Sharks back on track. Injuries and unavailable players meant he had some changes to make.

Veteran Oatie was locked up in a kitchen cupboard for the weekend (apparently for past transgressions at certain Central Coast nightclubs) which saw Jenkins call in the Duke of Wellington to take over at 8.

Mitch Mitchell earned his first 1st grade jersey starting at tight head and with former galloping green Tim Maxwell back and starting at 7 Lloydy moved into the second row with Stretch . Josh Meadham went back to hooker whilst last week's injury to Mitch Graham saw AJ start at 10 with Speedy moving to full back and the evergreen referee pest Dave Maryska taking over a vacant wing spot. Matt Anderson started on the other wing with the grand final pairing of the Geeman and Dan back in the centres

Kariong despite being dusted in 2nds by 80 points,forfeiting 3rds and winning the Colts were up for the grand final re-match.

Their early try down our blindside had us chasing them for the rest of the match.

The Sharks hit back with their own well thought out blind side attack that saw the Geeman go over in the corner. Good work by J Spagbowler to get this one done down the right hand corner.The squeals of delight from the Italian/French cheer leaders were deafening.

In the second half Kariong hit back again with 2 solid tries and it was looking like a repeat of the week before as the momentum seemed to shift to them. Meantime it was becoming increasingly hard to understand some of the referee’s decisions. Let’s just agree many of them were “interesting” for both sides.

With time running out some sustained pressure saw AJ go over near the posts and then in the shadows of full time with darkness engulfing the ground he did it again. Speedy converted and with less than 2 minutes to go we led 25-19. Nervous moments for all spectators and especially the coaching staff as Kariong drove into our 25 from the re-start . They looked dangerous until a couple of penalties went our way and we were able to weather the storm.

Sharks win 25-19 !

AJ was strong at 5/8 and was well supported by the Geeman with Speedy contributing his normal bag of points ( this week 10 points –hope your brother can do that next Wednesday night (ed) !

Dan showed his versatility moving to no 8 when the duke’s horse broke down with Dylan coming on at 5/8 and AJ shifting to centre.

Tim Maxwell showed his experience whilst Sherry made numerous trade mark runs close to the ruck. Captain Stretch and Tommo did well in most lineouts whilst spaghetti super star J Spagbowler had another strong game especially in defence. At one stage Spagbowler used everything but his handbag to drop some of the Kariong forwards.

Next week it’s the general bye round and then we face Warnervale away in what will be a very hard contest

Scores Avoca 25 Kariong 19
Tries 2 x Adrian Jones , 1 x Dave Gee
Con 2 x Speedy
Pen 2 x Speedy

Best & Fairest
3 Adrian Jones
2 Pete Steele
1 Sherry & Tim Maxwell
Players’ player Adrian Jones