Playing on a “traditional” Bridge St. mud pit, Eltham snatched a share of the competition points off Ballarat in a gripping finish with a last minute converted try in front of a big Eltham crowd who had gathered for the Josh Davis Memorial Rugby Gala Day. After surrendering an early lead, the home side spent most of the match, played under challenging conditions, playing catch-up with a determined Ballarat side. Not surprisingly, handling was proving difficult in slippery conditions and penalties played a key role in impacting attacking opportunities. Match highlights included:
Early Eltham pressure and field possession went unrewarded, with Gianni Teoh going close before a nice backline move saw a wayward pass put down with the line open by a hooker-wannabe-winger! Fortunately, penalty-advantage was being played, and from the ensuing lineout a driving Eltham maul saw Aisea (Wise) Naulago score to give Eltham a 5-0 lead. A failed clearing kick had Ballarat camped in the Eltham 22m, scoring a converted try after a tap penalty close to the line to go 5-7 up. A fine steal and break by Juke Nona triggered Eltham’s best attacking play of the half, with multiple phases and good ball control before an unsuccessful Eltham penalty attempt saw a Ballarat counterattack: aided by successive penalties, a yellow card to an Eltham player resulted in a penalty goal and a 5-10 lead at half-time to the visitors.
After conceding an early try to take Ballarat out to 10-17, a knock-on from the kick-off saw Ari Su’A break from the scrum: a 10-phase attack followed which included a brilliant off-your-toes catch by Aiden Smith before Wise went over to score, with Joe Thompson’s conversion closing the gap to 12-17. More penalties, more quick taps and Ballarat were over again courtesy of a pick-and-drive to extend their lead to 12-24. With Eltham playing their best in the worst part of the ground, a sustained attacking effort saw Hema Buchanan go over out wide from a penalty tap to edge Eltham closer at 17-24. A hectic final 15 minutes, with a surging Ballarat launching multiple attacking forays only to be kept out by some desperate last-ditch defence (take a bow, Aiden). An intercept metres from his own line and Samuela Rokoraivoka takes the ball back to half-way. Play goes from one end of the field to the other. An unsuccessful penalty attempt sees Eltham counterattack from within their in-goal area: a break by Ari, a deep kick by Juke and a great tackle by Rob Hausegger has Eltham back in possession 5 metres out. With penalty advantage being played, multiple pick-and-drives sees Hema take 3 opposition players with him to score next to the posts. Joe’s pressure conversion brings the score to 24-24, a fair result in an exciting finish to a great day of rugby at Eltham.
Try scorers: Aisea (Wise) Naulago 2, Hema Buchanan 2
Conversions: Joe Thompson 2
Full match replay: localrugbyhub.com.au — View tab → scroll to match
🏆 Kuzina Player of the Match: Reuben Stanley
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