Official Wentworthville Magpies Thread II

[Forty20]

Tui Kamikamica is well involved in this attacking set but Wenty are struggling for shape. Foran takes control on the last and looks for the in goals with a grubber but Merritt defuses the kick very well 1m out.

Merritt looks to have picked up an injury from the play.

Wenty contain the Bears well on the following set and thus earn good field position.

Foran sniffs out a chance on the left-edge shortside and nearly makes a break but pushes the pass and the ball is turned over.

Alvaro and Kamimaica concede a penalty for a lifting penalty.

The Bears now go on the attack.

 

[Forty20]

Another penalty for North Sydney, this one comes on the fifth tackle.

Rock solid defence from Wenty though as they repel they Bears through back-to-back sets and reclaim the ball from a scrappy grubber.

Wenty continue to put pressure on themselves as Foran's clearing kick is charged down and he further compounds the issue by holding a Bears' player back in the scramble for the loose ball.

Penalty to the Bears.

This time they are able to punish Wenty for meekly gifting them possession and territory as Lote Tuquiri cross down our left-edge with the Bears exploiting a simple overlap.

North Sydney lead Wenty 4-0

KTC

 

[Forty20]

The conversion attempt just misses.

North Sydney lead Wenty 4-0

(No game clock to refer to)

 

[Forty20]

Alvaro gets involved in three straight tackles from the kick off set as he looks to get involved in the game.

North Sydney complete their set with an ineffective kick that is taken by Toutai on the full.

Foran and Ualesi look to crack the Bears open with an unders run on the left but Ualesi is pulled down after nearly piercing the line.

Foran sends up a wicked torpedo bomb on the last and Merritt is the one to have to try to take it. He spills it forwards but the ref has ruled the Faraimo made contact first.

Wenty are marched a further 10m for disputing the decision and the Bears get a massive territorial gift.

They fail to do anything with the following set though and Justin Hunt takes their attacking kick in goals beautifully.

The Magpies march down the field with 7 tackle restart and bomb it again on the last, this time off the boot of Luke Kelly. Tui Kamikamica gives chase desperately and nearly pulls down Merritt but he is able to beat the flying backrower and link up with support.

The Bears streak down our right-edge for a good 60m before Justin Hunt comes across in cover and makes a good tackle.

Wenty desperately make their ground and continue to defend the Bears as they frustrate them on our right-edge. There is superb pressure on their fifth-tackle kick and Wenty come back to the 20m for another restart.

 

[Forty20]

Penalty for Wenty for hands in the ruck and the Magpies come downfield into North's half.

They attack well early in the set through Junior Paulo but play breaks down shortly after.

Bureta Faraimo tries to do it himself from short range and very nearly beats three defenders over the line but is held up in the end.

Wenty play it out to the last tackle before bombing it once more. Norths take is easily but drop the ball two tackles later to give Wenty a red hot chance to score.

The Magpies quickly squander the chance as a ball turned back on the inside is dropped and Foran and Junior do very well to make a try saving cover tackle.

Norths end their reply set with an attacking kick that Wenty correctly opt to not contest, choosing instead to swamp the man after he secured the ball.

Play comes down the right-edge for Wenty on this set but the Bears defend well and force Wenty to put in a weak kick on the last tackle.

 

[Forty20]

A poor kick from the Bears there. They have tried to roll the ball into touch and instead have kicked it dead.

Shockingly, the Magpies have taken the very rare optional restart from the 20m line as they try to find the sideline with a drop kick. The kick is well off the mark though and the Bears quickly find themselves back in possession.

 

[Forty20]

Nothing comes from the North Sydney set but Justin Hunt loses the ball from dummy half as Wenty try to work their way out of their own half.

 

[Forty20]

A poor handling error from the Bears has taken the pressure of Wenty, at least for the moment as they pack for a scrum 10m out from their own line.

Toutai gets the set underway with a strong carry before Wenty catch the Bears inside the 10m for a piggyback downfield.

Play resumes 5m into the Bear's half.

 

[Forty20]

An equally poor drop from Tui sees the Bears dodge their own set of goal line defence.

North Sydney scrum 25m out form their line.

 

[Forty20]

Hunt takes another kick soundly at the back and makes a few metres before the chasers pull him down but Wenty have a brain explosion on the next play as Pewhairhangi takes Tuquiri on down the left sideline.

He quickly realises that he is going into touch and plants the ball inside before going out before getting back into the field of play and batting it back but the ref has ruled that Api knocked it on initially.

Even though they are constantly turning the ball over, Wenty continue to defend well (for the most part) as they draw another handling error from the Bears.

Wenty scrum 20m out from their goal line.

 

[Forty20]

The Bears are done once more for failing to make the onside mark and Wenty will get a full set in the North Sydney red zone.

 

[Forty20]

Wenty play for the immediate try once more instead of building pressure and yet again it fails to pay dividends.

They kick for Toutai early in the set but the Bears read it well and get back quickly to secure the ball.

 

[Forty20]

And on the set that they actually build pressure up the middle before spinning wide Wenty score!

Some good lead up work by Maliota and Paulo create the space on the left edge and some slick hands from Foran and Pewhairangi put Faraimo over in the corner.

There was a heart-in-mouth moment there as Bureta bobbled the ball before securing it!

Wenty lock the game up at 4-all.

Kelly nails the conversion from the sideline.

Wenty take the lead over the Bears 6-4

 

[Forty20]

Wenty pick up another ruck penalty from the kickoff set which takes play to halfway.

A fantastic, sweeping backline movement from the right to the left sees Faraimo in more space but he surprisingly ties to grubber it past the fullback instead of pinning his ears back.

The Bears clean up the poor kick and then get a dubious penalty for a high shot.

North Sydney get one last crack in the first half as the siren sounds in the midst of their attacking raid on our right-edge.

Wenty can't pull the North's winger down before he gets a kick off and the ball sails towards our try line. Pewhairangi shows some awareness though as he has come miles in from the left edge to get to the ball first by some margin. He boots it dead and that will do us in the first half.

Half Time

Wenty lead North Sydney 6-4

 

[Forty20]

The rain has returned in the intermission. It isn't torrential but it is a solid down pour.

The quality of footy thus far has been less than stellar but the weather has played some part in that.

We will be resuming play shortly with Wenty kicking to the Bears.

 

[Forty20]

The Bears start the half with simple footy. One up hit-ups galore. The shock Wenty by gambling on running it on the last and catch our left-edge short. Tuiquiri finds himself in open space but still has Hunt to beat.

He chips it infield where Butler-Fleming gets across to the ball but loses it in the attempt to clean it up.

The Bears attack the opposite edge immediately from the restart of play and once again find an overlap with Wenty compressing in the middle.

Wenty scramble to cover the winger as he goes mad dash for the try line and if it was the NRL this would be referred to the video ref. However there is no video official in the NSW Cup and the contentious grounding of the #18 for Norths is ruled to be fair, much to the outrage of the small contingent of Wenty supporters.

Norths lead Wenty 8-6

The conversion is missed once again.

Scores remains 8-6 to the Bears.

 

[Forty20]

Toutai gives Wenty some impetus early in their set with a strong run down the right before Wenty switch their focus back to the ruck.

Butler-Fleming finds himself with the ball and rolls a weak grubber in behind the defensive line from midfield and Wenty are very fortunate to find themselves with a repeat set from a fumble.

Wenty are given another penalty as the defenders pulled a leg in the tackle and decide against taking the two from in front.

Ma'afu slips through some defenders and offloads back to the posts but the Bears scramble quickly and pull the ball carrier down.

There is a dive over attempt from dummy half that fails and play comes to a grinding half as a fracas breaks out.

Ben Lowe and Lorenzo Ma'afu are binned for their parts in the altercation and Wenty retain the ball.

 

[T.S Quint]

From the sounds of it, Kelly should have been our goalkicker in the opening rounds of First Grade.

 

[Forty20]

Brute force and desperation from Maliota there as he simply fights his way over under the posts.

The Bears made early contact on him after he was slipped a nice short ball but he pushed through it and slammed the ball down under the black dot.

Wenty lead Norths 10-8

Kelly obliges with the extras.

Wenty extend their lead to 12-8

 

[Forty20]

Maliota earns a break after his solo effort as Ualesi comes on to relieve him.

Wenty complete a strong set after points with an excellent touch finder on the last pinning Norths 10m out from their try line.