Official Wentworthville Magpies Thread II

[Forty20]

Wenty will be kicking off today.

 

[Forty20]

Matterson is playing on the left, Poups.

 

[Forty20]

Pat Mataele lining up at left centre, Rawalui is playing on the right wing.

 

[Forty20]

The Dogs work it to their right early in the set and fight their way over halfway with a couple of tackles to spare. They roll the ball in to our goal line on the last where Pewhairangi picks it up and makes a few metres before he is met by a good kick chase.

Wenty play it up the middle in reply but struggle for metres early on in the set. Strong carries to Tanginoa and Smith relieve some pressure and the latter picks up a penalty after getting up for a quick play the ball.

Wenty head downfield off the touch finder and go on the attack. Sam Gorman is caught running hte ball near the posts and Wenty make their first error of the game on the next play as a Pewhairangi offload is put down by Foran.

 

[Forty20]

Wenty defend better during this set, restricting the Dogs' gain to just short of halfway but they are caught unaware but the bold fifth tackle gambit of the home team. With Rawauli standing in the line the Dogs stab a shallow kick in behind the Wenty defensive line. Rawalui contests for the ball but over shoots it and it is scooped up by the Dogs who proceed to fly down the sideline and score out wide.

Didn't catch who scored and there is no ground announcer.

The conversion is unsuccessful.

The Bulldogs lead Wenty 4-0

6min gone.

 

[Forty20]

The Bulldogs drive into Wenty's half on their final tackle and then look to bomb Faraimo. The buggety winger has little problem securing the pill and makes some decent metres on top of it.

Soft hands between Fui and Kelepi bring the ball back to the middle for Wenty before Foran heaves the ball downfield. The kick is a poor one and is easily marked by the Dogs.

A cut out ball breaks open Wenty's line down our right and the Dogs scream into open space. They panic in linking up with support though and Fui of all people is on hand to intercept the wayward pass before passing to Pewhairangi. Api beats a few defenders before the ref calls time for some reason as a Bulldog defender made his way back into the defensive line. Real head scratcher there.

From the resumption of play, Rawalui loses the ball in his hit up and the Dogs are back on the attack.

They lack poise and fluency in this set, allowing Wenty to easily contain their attack before they are caught running the ball on the last.

 

[Forty20]

A promising play from Wenty leads to another mistake...

Once again a short pass from Fui to Kelepi seemingly reaps rewards as Tanginoa busts through the line. However, he loses the ball as he looks to offload the Pewhairangi who is flying up on his inside. Looked a tr if the offload was on track there.

Bulldogs back on the attack, again.

 

[Forty20]

More pressure for Wenty as they concede their first penalty of the game for holding down in the tackle.

Fresh set of six for the Dogs who quickly look to spin the ball to their left. Although Wenty manage to mark up for the backline movement, they are lax from the resulting play-the-ball and a worryingly soft barge over run from Kayne Brennan (?) is awarded a try. I was surprised that he was able to get the ball down there but there didn't seem to be any protests from the defenders.

The conversion is successful.

The Dogs lead Wenty 10-0

15min gone.

 

[Forty20]

There is an audible 'oooohhhh' from the crowd as Kelepi lays out a runner with a belter of a tackle. The Dogs are able to push into our half once more despite the tackle and some how come away with a fresh set of six after the ref rules that a charge down was a knock on....

Really confusing decision there.

The Dogs work the ball to our right once more but quickly come back to the posts when they are repelled. They are able to generate an overlap on our left when Mataele shoots and misses his opposite but a try goes begging when Ed Murphy holds the ball for himself. They come back to the same edge on their last tackle but have their cutout pass correctly ruled forwards to give Wenty the ball.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Interesting changes. Fabian Goodall, Luke Kelly, and Tepai Moeroa are out of the Wenty line-up. I expect Fabian and Tepai to drop back to the NYC. But it could mean Kelly is going to play in the halves with Norman dropping back to fullback?

Since Jones was named at 18 on Tuesday I expected Kelly would play first grade with Norman at fullback. Otherwise Pewhairangi would come in at fullback (except that it would impact our second tier cap).

Using Sio at fullback would completely f**k our shape. Anyway, I guess we'll know for sure tomorrow.

I believe Goodall dropped back last week after Davis failed to be fit for the NYC game. Without Goodall, Davis and Matterson our left side would have been absolute shite. That's just my assessment of why Goodall was a late inclusion in NYC. I can't see why else he would be 'dropped' at the last minute other than that we care about the NYC team's performances.

With Goodall and Moeroa late exclusions from today's game we might have a couple of NYC players having failed their fitness tests.

#speculation

 

[Forty20]

Frustrating stuff from Wenty once more.

Rawalui is given some space to work in after quick hands from the left to the right catch the Dogs short but he gets overly greedy and is forced to offload lest he go into touch. His offload is happily taken by a Canterbury defender and they are gifted another set to build towards points.

Wenty further compound the issue as they give away another penalty.


The Magpies defend well during this set, keeping the Dogs out and cleaning up the fifth tackle grubber. Unsurprisingly with the weight of possession they have handed to the Dogs, they find it difficult to work out of their half and Foran is forced to kick from dummy half on the last.

 

[Poupou Escobar]

Matterson is playing on the left, Poups.

Cheers mate.

 

[Forty20]

Another good take from Faraimo diffuses an attacking kick from the Dogs. Solid stuff.

Lorenzo Ma'afu picks up a desperately needed penalty, which brings play just past halfway for Wenty.

Alvaro is on for Fui.


Wenty look to have finally cracked the Dogs open with a clever kick from Foran to Rawalui early in the count but the touch judge has ruled Rawalui offside. Could be a big swing here as the Magpies follow up that penalty with a high shot that brings the Dogs into Wenty's red zone.

 

[Forty20]

An unforced error from the Dogs give Wenty a small break but it barely lasts a single tackle as the home team raises their intensity and line speed.

Wenty get hammered this set and Sam Gorman heaps the pressure back onto Wenty with a knock on as he tries to get past a questionably positioned marker.

The Dogs only need a couple of tackles to bust the visitors open on this occasion with Tyrone Phillips flying through in support of one his backrowers who gives him the ball via a lovely offload. Pewhairangi makes a terrible non-attempt at a tackle, even with Phillips already carrying a defender and the Canterbury custodian is just able to reach out and score.

That was a long time coming but geez it was poor stuff from Api.

The conversion is successful.

Canterbury starting to run away with the game at 16-0

30min gone.

 

[Forty20]

Yet another penalty to the Dogs brings play 10m into Wenty's half and a solid run from Burr puts the Magpies on the backfoot. Burr is involved two tackles later, carting the ball up again but loses possession this time around.

Wenty scrum 10m from their goal line.

Alvaro and Ma'afu tkae early runs while a Ualesi run gets the ball up near halfway on the last. The score line has clearly gotten to Foran who tries his hand with a chip and chase, which is cleaned up by the Dogs.

They then play out a simple set which ends in a pin point click that pulls up centimetres from the dead ball sideline and forces Pewhairangi to play at it.

 

[Forty20]

Good run from Ualesi who nearly breaks through down the middle. Wenty focus their attack down the right edge yet again and finally are able to create something as Pewhairangi loops in from the back and cuts out Butler-Fleming to put Rawalui over in the corner.

The conversion is successful.

Wenty trail the Dogs 6-16

37min gone.

 

[Forty20]

A strong run to Ma'afu gets Wenty close to halfway before the ref blows time off on the last tackle just as Matterson sends a bomb up.

I have no idea what happened there but the ref walked back to the play-the-ball mark and awarded the Dogs a penalty.

Just as momentum was coming back to Wenty that goes and gives the Dogs another chance to score.

They come very close to doing just that with an early raid down our left edge but Faraimo has just enough pace to catch up with his opposite and force an error in the grounding of the footy.

Wenty get the last play of the half but a Pewhairangi chip kick is easily taken by Phillips, who throws the ball into touch.

Half Time

Canterbury lead Wenty 16-6

 

[Maroubra Eel]

How is Fui looking Forty?
Will he see first grade again, or is he finished?

 

[Forty20]

Poor half from Wenty.

Although the Dogs prospered from some 50/50 calls, the Magpies coughed up the ball time and time again to heap a mountain of pressure upon themselves. To be only ten points down at half time really isn't a fair indication of the dominance the Dogs had in territory and possession.

As I feared, when we DO have the ball the majority of it is sent to our right edge with our left edge seemingly relegated to early ruck work. Pewhairangi was able to engineer our sole try down the right while Foran had a try-assist of his own from a kick denied but we really aren't outplaying them to any degree to warrant the weight of possession given to our right.

Wenty will want to be a great deal better in the second half. The fact that the margin is only ten points is boon for Wenty and means that game is certainly still winnable.

On a sidenote - Gentle, Murphy and Burt are all in attendance today. I haven't seen Brad Arthur but it is likely that he is also here to witness the ordinary showing from Wenty thus far.

 

[Forty20]

Second half will be underway shortly with Wenty receiving the ball.