Jim Beam Cup Finals - Week Two

[mono_mal]

The Entrance Tigers v Wentworthville Magpies
Western Weekender Stadium, St Marys
Saturday, 12:30

This battle will precede the Bulls v Souths Juniors clash. These sides have been the two major forces in the Jim Beam Cup this season and are both deserved grand finalists. It will be interesting to see how both teams pull up in the fitness department - The Entrance were rewarded with a week off, while Wenty were involved in a physically draining match against Souths last weekend. By the end of the game many players from Wenty found it hard enough walking, let alone playing football.

In the minor preliminary semi finals last weekend Wenty exhibited determination in a come from behind victory over Souths Juniors. The Entrance’s last match was against Guildford two weeks ago where they came away convincing victors. The Entrance were too dominant in the forwards and skilful in the backs for a Guildford side feeling the ill effects of a long season. Brett Westwood will be wishing for similar form this week after snaring a hat-trick against Guildford.

This week promises to be the best match the Jim Beam Cup has had on offer, with both teams naming first class line ups. Many positional battles will be on display at the new Western Weekender Stadium. The highlight though is bound to be upfront. Entrance prop Cheyne Lennon has provided worthy go-forward all season and will present tough competition for former Wests Tigers first grader, Hayes Lauder. Hard work earlier in the season saw the two bookends rewarded with places in the Jim Beam Cup representative side. The other major match up will be in the centres. NASCA World Sevens representative, Scott Ella continued his phenomenal try scoring feats last week when he captured another four. His incredible speed and strength were a huge factor in the win over Souths. The Entrance centre pairing of Brett Blaker and Mixie Lui arguably have the toughest role on the field - stopping Scott Ella and Pat McKenzie.

Wenty have named an identical side to the one that defeated Souths. A notable omission is former Souths and Wests Tigers prop Justin Doyle, who has again been named 18th man. The Entrance are slightly affected by changes. Five-eighth Gavin Westwood has been replaced by the versatile Scott Salter and Grant Condon is a new inclusion on the bench. In what should be a nail bitter, goal kicking may have a vital role in establishing a winner. If this is the case, Craig Parke will have to improve on a woeful performance with the boot to make up ground on Entrance fullback, Todd Bolton.

Despite poor crowds throughout the season, Wenty managed a vocal supporter group last weekend and The Entrance are likely to provide good rivalry on the sidelines. Captain and former country player of the year, Jamie Forbes, has enjoyed a memorable season at hooker and holds the key for the Central Coast team if they wish to be a part of grand final day. The winner will be armed with a psychological boost heading into the grand final and tagged as firm favourites to take out the inaugural Jim Beam Cup.

GRJ's tip: Wentworthville Magpies
Mono's tip: The Entrance Tigers

 

[mono_mal]

Souths Juniors v Sydney Bulls
Western Weekender Stadium, St Marys
Saturday, 2:30
The in form Sydney Bulls will clash with Souths Juniors at St Marys on Saturday in the sudden death minor semi-final. This match will act as the main game for the day following The Entrance v Wentworthville match.
The Bulls have looked very impressive in recent weeks and have not tasted defeat for a number of weeks, last week they sent out a warning to all clubs in contention for the premiership with a 44-20 victory over St Marys-Penrith. The Bulls starting line up has remained unchanged despite the sending off of fullback Sam Rakabu and Ryan Asplet being placed on report during last weekends final against the Cougars. A notable omission from the Bulls bench though is former Souths star Damien Mostyn.
The Rabbitohs have a number of changes with 3 players returning to the Jim Beam Cup team following the premier league sides early exit from the finals last week. Joe Thomas, who is a contender for the Souths Premier League coaching position in 2004, has named Garth Wood in the centers in place of Lincoln Higgins and Toufic Nicholas is the new hooker in place of Thomas Giatsios. Whilst these are the only changes evident in the big league program it has been stated that Mark Meredith and David Buckley have also returned to the Souths line up.
Souths last weekend went into the break leading 20-10 and looked to be comfortably in front but to only see Scott Ella score 4 tries in the first 20 minutes of the second half to put the Maggies comfortably in front. The red and greens fought back with a try to Ben Cush but a late try to Adam Capovilla put the match out of Souths grasp. The Juniors side may struggle to recover ably for this weekends game as their clash against Wenty was a bruising encounter.
The Bulls meanwhile will be fresh for this weekends game and had a easy win over the Cougars and didn’t appear to hit their best, seeming to go into cruise control in the second half. All the same the Bulls looked devastating in the first half and the Cougars had no answer to the Bulls quality outside backs. The international backline will play a large part in this weekends game though Ryan Branighan will have a tough task coming up against the experienced and exceptionally talented Tricky Trindall.
The winner of this game will progress to the Jim Beam Cup final at Aussie Stadium though to pick a winner is a tough task with each team registering a win in the clubs two matches this year. The 2002 Metro Cup Premiers have appeared to hit form at the right time and are a huge hurdle for Souths to overcome to proceed further in the Jim Beam Cup.
Mono’s tip: Sydney Bulls
GRJ’s tip: Souths Juniors

 

[Nfed]

Mostyn omitted ? But can't wait to see his replacement, Damien Azzi, go - making his debut in the semis! Must be pretty good.

(Come on, Mal - you've been around long enough now to pick up another NSWRL 'special' - getting the typos fixed isn't a priority, even in the semis.)

Seriously, I hope Rakabu hasn't been suspended and is playing tomorrow - Mostyn at fullback would be a disaster.

 

[metroman]

The major semi final saw a slow start from premiership favourites, The Entrance, spilling the ball 3 times in the opening exchanges to allow Wenty to get the upper hand. Wenty again went into the game without Byrne, Brad Capovilla and Doyle. It was interesting to see that the travelling reserve was a guy that plays anywhere between prop and fullback in the 3rd grade but he was not required.

The scoreboard attendants were not required until the 9th minute, when there seemed to be nothing happening but Ella received the ball and from a standing start, ran around the Tiger defenders and raced 60 metres down the sideline to score under the posts.

The Tigers struck back when former Souths prop, Adam McEwen charged down a Carr clearance and Lui stepped around Mckenzie with ease to score near the sideline. The Tigers game plan had targeted Wenty's kicking game, capitalising on the absence of Byrne.

The second quarter saw each side score, with Parke going over for the Magpies and Davis for the Tigers. Wenty led 12-10 at halftime.

Coach Parish appears to have said all the right things at the break as in the first 10 minutes following resumption, the Tigers got over the line 4 times but has 3 ruled as illegal. The Entrance appeared to have Wenty's measure but the Magpies hung in and after a Mskenzie try set up by Bell, they trailed 18-16 with plenty of time left.

The Entrance played their first trial for 2003 on 15 January and they did not allow 8 months of excellence to go the drain. Brian Westwood scored in the corner and a superb Bolton conversion wrapped up a 24-16 victory.

You can only play as well as the opposition allows but Wenty's form was down on what we have seen at Ringrose this year. Byrne is a crucial link in the backline. The Magpies need him and at least one of the injured forwards on the field next week if they are to compete with their very dangerous opponents.

 

[metroman]

The Entrance brought down about 200 supporters for the early game but they had no interest in the elimination game and like last week the crowd for the later game was about half the size of the early game. No doubt the NSWRL will count everyone 20 times and record a total attendance of about 12,000.

Souths took only 45 seconds to record the first try following a long kick and regather. The shellshocked Bulls could have been further behind when Navale spilled the ball from a scrum, but Souths were unable to punish this mistake. Apart from this, the experienced Navale had a great game with crunching defence, powerful returns from kicks and clearances from dummy half, and good positioning to score a couple of tries.

Souths dominated the first ten minutes but after that the defending premiers were irresistable. The score was 16-4 at half time with 3 tries scored from inside the Souths quarter. Navale scored his first when he caught a De Bartolo cross kick over the goal line, then Ryan Asplet displayed previously unseen ball skills to put Rakabu over from an inside ball and then Branighan strolled through a gap after the Bulls had applied intense pressure in back to back sets.

The Bulls went on with the job in the second half, scoring 5 long range tries. Their dominance was so complete that they were permitted to rest their chief playmaker, DeBartolo in the second half.

Final score was 46-8. The forwards hit hard, Branighan was elusive, Mostyn tackled well, didn't drop a ball and the only conversion he missed out of 8 was from the sideline and just dropped under the bar. Reserve back, Andrew Smith gave a tradesman like performance despite not having been selected for 10 weeks.

This season has proved to be too long for the Bulls to maintain their standard but following their slump they revamped the line up and have built momentum at the right time and they are going to be hard to stop. At their lowest point midseason they were absolutely flogged by
The Entrance, they may get the chance to wipe that memory away on Grand final day.

After the first two rounds this season I predicted a Bulls/Wenty grand final - it has come a week early.