Two minutes. That is all it took.
Max had been back from injury for barely thirty seconds when the ball came out quick to the left, and forty metres later Eltham were on the board. It set the tone for a morning at Bon Thomas Reserve that ended with our U12s booking a Grand Final.
Eltham 5 Northern 0.
The pressure did not let up. Northern fumbled on the sidelines under a hard Eltham chase, Nas made a valiant run to the far left, and Eltham wrestled the ball back and sent it wide to Max again, this time under the posts. Orin added the extras.
Eltham 12 Northern 0.
Four minutes later Max went over again. Eleven minutes gone, three tries, and Northern had barely touched the ball.
Eltham 19 Northern 0.
Behind him, Roman, Josh and Malachi were putting their bodies on the line in defence. Harvey and Ethan were in absolutely everything. Ethan, Hunter and Caleb were making life genuinely difficult for the Northern forwards.
Northern are too good a side to stay quiet, and Idris crossed to get them back into it before the break. Caleb produced a big run on the wing. Artie took on a tackle from an opponent clearly twice his size and did not take a backward step. Eltham’s defence forced another fumble from a clearing kick, and Orin read the Northern line beautifully for a quick interception.
Northern were tiring. It was rough out there. Harvey made a big run down the sideline with a call that could have gone either way, and Eltham went to the break 19-7 up.
The half that mattered
If the first half was about Eltham’s attack, the second was about their character.
Our boys were, as one sideline regular put it, like cattle dogs. They were at Northern’s ankles all morning and Northern never worked out what to do about it. There was a try saver. Fraser produced a superb chase down.
Northern found a way through once more to close it to 19-14, and suddenly this was a contest.
Then came three minutes that will stay with anyone who watched them. Northern threw wave after wave at the Eltham line. Artie and Nas combined for some enormous tackles. Not a drop got through. Not one.
Max ran it back up the sideline to the safety of the Northern thirty. Northern struggled to move it past halfway, Eltham turned it over, and the ball went wide to Max for his fourth. They could not catch him. Nobody could catch him all day.
Eltham 26 Northern 14.
A big tackle from Orin, Harvey on the deck to clean up, and Hunter jumping fallen Northern players like hurdles. Roman, Caleb, Nas and Ethan smashed into the defence again and again. Artie went over and was denied.
It did not matter. Harvey cleaned up a loose kick and ran it in from the thirty, and Orin landed the conversion from the sideline. Magic.
Full time: Eltham 33 Northern 14.
The numbers
- Tries: Max (4), Harvey
- Conversions: Orin (4 from 5)
- Grill’d Player of the Match: Artie
Four tries to Max, and a perfect afternoon off the tee from Orin bar the very first kick. Northern’s points came through Idris and Avean, who also landed both their conversions.
One more game
A shout out to the coaches, who finished the morning with a hype up speech that had every one of these kids ready to run through a wall. And to every family who stood in the cold at Brimbank and made noise all morning. It matters more than you know.
- GRAND FINAL — Saturday 5 September
- 9:30am kick off
- Powerhouse Rugby Club
- Eltham v Kiwi Hawthorn/Maroondah
One more game. One more push. Let’s go Eltham! 🖤💛
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