Official Wentworthville Magpies Thread II

[Forty20]

Lichaa throws an awful long ball to Gardener after receiving the kick off and Gardener (sporting the Billy Idol look) does very well to clean it up.

Big metres for the Sharks in this set as the rumble through the ruck. They attack our left-edge but the pass is astray and hits the ground. Cronulla are able to clean it up and with more missed tackles from Wenty, are able to bring play to our 10m line on their last.

Lichaa takes the ball down the shortside and rolls a grubber back towards the posts. There are bodies for Wenty in the contest but it Scott Sorenson gets there first and scores a simple try.

The conversion is made again.

Cronulla lead Wenty 12-0

20min gone.

Mistake from the Sharks on the kickoff set followed by a penalty to Wenty.

 

[Stagger eel]

Ryan matterson... Individual brilliance

 

[Forty20]

Wenty struggle for fluency in their attacking set. The attack down their left-edge but are met evenly by Cronulla and come back to their right-edge where Pewhairangi rolls in a well placed grubber but the Sharks are able to not only clean it up but get back into the field of play.


Cronulla make easy metres coming off their own line but panic on their last tackle with Lichaa nearly getting caught in possession before Manumalealii gets away a poor grubber.

Wenty then earn a penalty for a hand on the ball.

Finally, Wenty are able to convert a chance into points as Ryan Matterson does it all himself.

The rangy 5/8 realises that the Cronulla winger was standing in the defensive line and stabs a long-range grubber into the in goals. Luck shines on Matterson as he gives chase to his own kick, even though the Cronulla winger seemingly has him covered.

The winger makes the hear-pulling mistake of waiting for the slow trickle of the ball over the dead ball line and Matterson dives on it to score!

Pewhairangi misses the conversion.

Wenty trail 4-12

25min gone.

 

[Forty20]

Penalty for Cronulla as Wenty fail to make the 10m.

Play resumes 5m into Wenty's half.

 

[oldmancraigy]

Notable omissions from the original line up:

Bureta Faraimo
Luke Kelly
Kaysa Pritchard
Junior Paulo

Fair to assume Jnr playing firsts?

Doesn't look good for Peats with 2 on standby for him?

Assuming Faraimo on standby for Hayne?

 

[Forty20]

Another penalty immediately follows from the tap restart, this time for a high shot.

Cronulla now into Wenty's red zone...

 

[Forty20]

Truly shocking stuff from Wenty's right-edge.

Sione Masima nabs himself an early brace after Pewhairangi and Morgan simply fall off him from 10m out. They seemingly had him wrapped up but he powers through them and rolls over the top of Justin Hunt at the last line of defence.

Cronulla scoring in nearly every set they have in Wenty's red zone.

Three in a row for the Cronulla goal kicker.

Sharks lead Wenty 18-4

29min gone.

 

[Forty20]

Unbelievable stuff.

Yet another error from the kickoff from Cronulla. They are doing everything they can to keep Wenty in the contest!

 

[Forty20]

Matterson nearly barges over from dummy half but gets caught up with Ma'afu before he can dive over.

Wenty come back to their right where Pewhairangi looks for another grubber but his outside men weren't awake to it and Cronulla have plenty of time to clean up the bouncing ball.

 

[Forty20]

A mistake from Cronulla gives Wenty a scrum 10m into Cronulla's half.

A strong run from Morgan gets play near Cronulla's line before Folau nearly pushes over.

Play comes back to the middle where Alvaro has a chance to put a fellow forward through a gap but holds onto the ball and takes the tackle.

Matterson calls the shots on the last, taking play to the left with a grubber. The ball picks up a deflection in the defensive line and is dived on by a Sharkie but he fumbles it!

Wenty then get a penalty and they tap the ball and attack down their right where Pewhairangi sees a mile of space and sends an inside out cut out ball to Folau who dives over in the corner!

Pewhairangi misses the conversion once more. He is really struggling with them.

Wenty trail Cronulla 8-16

36min gone.

 

[Forty20]

Finally Wenty string together some quality footy as Pewhairangi runs it on the fourth and catches some lazy inside defenders out with a nice ball to Hunt.

Hunt bursts through into the backfield and has only Gardener to beat but he takes the certain option by passing to Ryan Morgan in support.

Morgan centres the ball for Justin Hunt, who has taken over the goal kicking duties.

Hunt obliges with the conversion.

Wenty trail 14-18

38min gone.

 

[oldmancraigy]

Good fightback

 

[Forty20]

Moi Moi has left the field and is heading down the tunnel to the dressing rooms.

No indication of what is the problem.

Wenty are now competing in the ruck with the second rotation of props on the field and roll up the middle in this set before Matterson tries to stab the ball in behind 10m past halfway.

The trajectory of his kick is too low and it picks up a deflection and is dived on by Manumalealii, with no knock-on this time around.

Cronulla have one last chance to score in the half and test their luck down our left again but we scramble with much better intent and Cronulla forces a pass that rolls into touch.

The siren rings out and that takes us to half time.

Half Time

Cronulla lead Wenty 18-14

 

[Forty20]

Fair to assume Jnr playing firsts?

Doesn't look good for Peats with 2 on standby for him?

Assuming Faraimo on standby for Hayne?

Junior would be a certainty.

There was a rumour going around that Sandow is attending a funeral of a relative back home, which might explain why Kelly was pulled.

As for Kaysa and Faraimo, I haven't the slightest clue. Pritchard has struggled with some injuries this season and could simply have failed to take the field today due to fitness, otherwise you could be correct about him covering Peats.

 

[Forty20]

Second half will being shortly with Wenty receiving the ball.

 

[Forty20]

Alvaro brings the ball back for the first run of the half and he is followed with a strong charge by Maliota.

Avaro then brings up the last with a great effort, as he makes the better part of 15m to bring play well into Cronulla's half.

Wenty make a meal of the great position though, with yet another kick picking up a deflection. Rawalui dives on the ball but it wasn't played at and that signals a change over.

Cronulla make solid metres without really threatening the Magpies but a costly penalty of the fourth tackle gives them a real crack at scoring first in this half.

Wenty defend their line well, the best they have done all day and Maliota finds himself in the right place with some silky hands to snatch Manumalelealii kick mid air, make 20 odd metres and then offload to Hunt!

Great effort from the big unit and Wenty start the roll on towards halfway but a stray offload gives Cronulla the pill.

The Sharks struggle big time in this set, making nearly zero metres near halfway before booting the ball away in desperation.

Odd start to the half to say the least.

 

[Forty20]

Toutai turns possession over in Cronulla's half as the ball pops loose from his grasp in the midst of a carry.

Cronulla struggle for big metres once again and try a cheeky grubby in behind the ruck, looking to catch Wenty out but Pewhairangi quickly sweeps behind and secures the ball with some good hands.

The head scratching start to the half continues as Wenty then turn the ball over in almost exactly the same place as their last two turn overs.

Croulla scrum 35m out from their try line.

Moi Moi has come back out and is warming up on the side line.

 

[Forty20]

Play has halted due to an injury to a Cronulla player.

It doesn't look to be serious and Gardener (the player in question) is up and will play the ball on half way.

Cronulla nearly break our line with some second phase play but on what would have been the linebreak assisting pass, a Wenty defender bats it back and Hunt scoops up the scraps.

 

[Forty20]

Pewhairangi threads a low kick into the Cronulla in goals, it looks to be nigh-perfect in weight but just (and I mean just) rolls over the dead ball line.

A seven tackle set for the Sharks is a poor return for such a good kick but them is the breaks.

Cronulla finally make some in roads up the middle and get a little adventurous on the back of it. They attack Wenty's right-edge, where the have had such success to date but not only fail to crack them open but lose the ball after pushing one pass too many.

Wenty look to have the makings of an overlap after Matterson (now on the right) throws a nice ball down the right but Morgan can't grasp the offload from Ualesi (?) and Cronulla quickly get the ball back.

 

[Forty20]

Matterson puts Morgan through half a gap with a nice short ball and off the back of the quick play-the-ball Wenty immediately send the ball to the opposite edge where there is a superb offload from Howard (speculatively at this point, but I am checking with other Wenty supporters) to Rawalui, who crosses in the corner.

The conversion is missed from outwide.

Wenty finally locks the scores up at 18-all

58min gone.