My HM summaries from here on I think will just be me watching bits of the game and skipping through.. will focus more time on SG Ball... anyway a couple of notes:
Dragons (HM - U17s) 14-10 Win:
- Ah Kee (6) is a solid unit with great footwork.. lot of LKT in him.
- Both sides were good in the first half, we had more attacking ball on their line, good bits from lots of players, the #7 Jones is very active, Field @1 had some good moments.. scored our 3rd try right on halftime after locking down a scrum with seconds to spare.. missed a few goalkicks, but 14-0 up at half time.
- Phoenix Johns is way more solid than I realised, good frame, has good wraps so I had an eye on him, interesting to see what becomes of him in time... but no real highlights today.
- Fullback Cody Field has had some more nice moments in the 2nd half.. he has a habit of getting out of half tackles, getting up and just going again.. thought he actually put on a try in the 2nd half after breaking them open, but was judged a forward pass..
- Real back and forward stuff.. decent defence.. the Tigers scored their seconds after a big tackle on Rawson #3 coming off our tryline dislodged the ball and they pick it up and fall over the line.. shame cause we had done so well to hold them out.
- Last 10-15mins were back to the grind again, we hold on for a 14-10 win, fantastic stuff.
Dragons (SG - U19's) 26-32 Loss:
- lovely big charge from CST with footwork.. went 20m or so, pass on the inside found a tigers player though.
- gees #10 Futialo is a massive boy.. doesnt guarantee that he turns into a 1st grader, but if he has the fitness, motor and some luck..
- Couple of errors from #9 Kouka have cost us.. been a back and forth grind though
- 13mins in a nice set right from close to our own goalline.. coupla good runs, #6 Boyle everything putting Hikila through a hole.. then Boyle went himself again had 3 defenders on him and got an arm around to offload to #4 Okusitino (so hard to spell) for a try in the corner.
- So this try was epic.. from the drop out, Smythe #13 the bloke who I say is an impact prop cause of his massive frame, uses his footwork off a big charge.. gets it to the edge and away to Cooper Hale #3 who had a shocker last week but in attack hes fast tall strong.. clearly a weapon if he can fix his defence.. he goes another 10-20m, then onto Nachar who quickly gets a ball back to the full back Kirk trailing who does the rest.. lovely try under the posts. 10-0 up.
- Thought we had a 3rd try when CST goes into hooker gets a wild ball to Kirk who kicked for himself into the ingoal, cant quite see why it was disallowed.
- Some big tigers charges got them into good position and a bigger player ran over little fullback Kirk.. 10-6.
- Their little fullback just stepped half our team to run the length.. we had him a few times.. goalkicking seems on point compared to ours.. 10-12.
- Dumb error to give the ball back (think it was no foot to the ball) and they looked to knock it on near our line twice, and somehow it was play on and they had a slight overlap on the wing.. theyre up 16-10 at half time. Dont feel like this score reflects the game.. weve been probably dominant or close to, and in 10mins they have run in 3 tries.
- 2nd half omd omg I think thats 2-3 times they have pinged us for not getting a foot to the ball.. as we attacked their line.. far out must be a crackdown.
- High tackle from Cooper Hale.. he did this last week he doesnt get his body low so hes always likely to wrap someone around their head.. and off that a soft soft soft try with the hooker scooting over untouched.. so dissapointing.. 10-22.
- Back attacking their line and they have pinged Hikala AGAIN for not touching the ball with the foot.. FMD.. unforgivable stuff..
- Off the back of that they had an attacking king on our line and their young #1 just darted through and outleapt us for a try.. he looks a gun their young fullback.. but we should have been on their line.. 10-28.
- Nachar has coughed it up (after a rly good game).. next set their bluddy fullback has carved us up again.. Logan Deininger.. one to watch.. but f**k hard to watch now 10-32.
- Attacked their set a few times now, Smythe has been strong, finally over with another run from #4 Antonio Okusitino, who is fast becoming one of my favourites.. 2 360deg spins to get it down. 32-16.
- Finally some momentum and a big set and #1 Kirk has just put it down in an average tackle.. this kid is killing me.. just need to put anyone back there.. dont need fancy footwork.. just someone who can hold the ball and make tackles.
- Another good set went 80m and got it in goal for a repeat set.. were a rly good side when were not making errors.. Hikala despite those penalties hits the line so hard..and off the back of the repeat set we have scored in the corner, Nachar beating his opposition winger to just stay in.. goalkick sprayed 45deg off target again.. not Boyles strong-suite. 20-32.
- Another good set to go the length, force an error and were over again, Boyle onto my man Okusitino, 26-32.
- Got back to attacking their line again, but this time couldnt pull a miracle off.. and a few good tigers runs have seen them putting us back on our own goalline.. game over.
Gonna be a hard year watching Dragons SG.. they dont have the class to blow teams away, and they dont have TPH to mop things up.. they just cant afford dumb errors, ref crackdowns etc.. they could easily hjave won this game yet it goes down as another loss.. and shoulda been a win.
Watching these no-commentator games on BarTV is particularly difficult cause the camera is always right next to some opposition fans, and I have to mute it so I dont have to listen to their inane dribbling.
www.dragons.com.au
