Steelers SG U19's vs Wests:
Hold up.. Borg must be injured.. Kirk is @ fullback, and Tomo is in for Timmo.. and then Kye Andrews (I've never heard of) has taken Kirks spot on the wing.. lot of change.. the good thing is Reed is back on deck to partner Fitzy.
Taufa is back the big prop.. DMeafou now a starting lock finally, still no Weatherall.
First Half Notes:
- Nearly score in the opening minute but a good tackle on Heidke..
- But Kirk has gotten himself sinbinned in the 2nd minute.. couldnt clean up a kick and briefly grabbed the jersey of his opponent.. disappointing and there was plenty of defence.
- It costs us as Wests crash over for their first after 3mins.
- 7th minute - wests in out wide this time.. being punished for Kirks sinbin.
- Kirk is back but we are not making our tackles.. and the boys are out on their feet after 14minutes... whats worse is that after making mistakes or missing tackles.. noone is cleaning up the loose ball or ball carrier.. its a really bad habit and they are getting a lot of free metres off it.
- Argh 3 blokes in a tackle and he lands on Kirks leg with the first hip drop tackle of 2025.. ffs.. omg not even a penalty.. thats insane.. they will get him on video footage surely.
- They grubber through and Kirk cant turn on his bung leg.. wests score millimetres from the deadball line.. o m g. Kirk will go off I assume now.
- Finally something goes our way.. nice run from Mason to Fitz to Reed to Langdon who finishes it nicely... rly strong breeze pushes an otherwise perfectly placed kick off.. 4-14.
- Another nice run, 9>6>7>21 (Kye Andrews who is playing fullback for the injured Kirk) who runs with pace to cut a nice gap open.. and gets it away to Heidke who nearly finished it but is ankle tapped.. doesnt matter as Kye again from dummy half gets a long ball to Reed who puts Meafou into a little space and the big unit no problems knocking the defender away and spinning over for a try near the sticks 10-14 still in it..
- omg Mason Phillips chips for himself regathers easily, and deadset was over the line to score but held up.. oh man.. we would have had the lead... we dont finish the set well.. wests go the length and score on half time.. damn... 10-18.
2nd Half Notes:
- Gah missed tackles from 2 of our bench players in the middle.. their halfback goes thru and puts someone thru under the sticks.. 10-24.
- We defended well for a few minutes on our line.. but eventually it told.. the same #19 from wests who scored the last try slices thru hard between Phillips and DMeafou.. dissapointing again.. 10-30.
- Something gone our way.. Reed puts a grubber into the ingoal, which is flat out fumbled by the defender.. picks it up and scores.. 14-30... struggling to goalkick in the breeze.
- omg Reed reaches out and puts it over the line.. he was about to blow the try and decided nup.. hes gonna let wests pick it up and run off instead.
- Next wests try.. just barged over 6 of us under the posts.. 14-36.
- Had a chance on their line, Phillips with a cheeky ball over the defence to an unmarked winger Tomo(who is actually a Ctr on debut.. but everyone is out of position due to Kirk/Borg), im not sure if he missed the catch or not.. but it sailed close to his hands and in to touch... not a great debut for Tomo.. but then its not a great game for any of the steelers.
- Sheez the Wests 2nd rower is breaking ankles.. steps 90 degrees and gets it to the 6 who runs a nice angle to beat tired defenders.. final score 14-42.
I think we were in trouble early with Borg & Timmo out before the match.. it really disrupted us.. followed by the hip drop tackle on Kirk.. but even with that.. and that try came off Kirk being unable to turn around.. we still could have went into half time in front..
But.. bit of a wake up call perhaps.. we are out of finals contention currently.. and Wests are not a top side.. we are going to have to step up our game with 4 rounds left.. still havent seen Weatherall, and im not sure the injury status of Kirk/Borg/Timmo.