After Eltham stole a last-minute victory over Ballarat, coach Kenney Wamsley was quoted as saying he wouldn’t have the word good next to the performance. A week later, following a 77-10 victory over Monash University, I suspect he might be a bit more generous in his praise for what was a stylish display of open, running rugby built on the back of a strong defence. Just two minutes into the match Rob Hausegger finished off a break by Michael Stent to give Eltham the first try of the match, with Eliah James converting (7-0). After trading penalty goals, Monash hit back with a try, levelling scores at 10-all after 15 minutes. However, that was to be the last time Monash troubled the scorer. After Eltham kept the ball in play through multiple phases, Eliah sent a short pass to Aisea “Wise” Naulago who stepped through a number of defenders to score (17-10). A forward drive close to the Monash line saw Howie Simpson finish off a backline move to score out wide (24-10), while Michael Stent was set loose by a nice pass from Wise to step and swerve his way some 40 metres for a try to have Eltham ahead 29-10 at the break.
With the pressure off, Eltham produced perhaps their best half of rugby this season. Cut-out passes, deft kicks over the opposition defensive line that were regathered and resulted in tries, a prop stepping inside defenders to score, an impenetrable defensive line….it had it all. All up, 8 tries were scored, including tries to Eliah, Jayden Curtain, Arron Dalgarno, Michael Stent (his second for the match), Sean Richards and Tim Stent (as a sub, took less time to score than his brother!). And then a couple for the highlights package, with Eltham newcomer Enoka chu shing (Howard) running onto a tap penalty to brush aside a number of defenders to go over brought the bench to its feet, to be closely followed by the rampaging Eltham legend, Roger Iacobucci, unstoppable 15 metres out. Another 4 conversions by Eliah gave a final score of 77-10. Very, very difficult to pick best-on-ground, as everyone excelled. However, a special mention must go to Wombat, as Kenney affectionately calls Alex Cara, who was called into the front row for his first full game of the season and didn’t disappoint in a strong, all-round performance. A big thanks to Russ Hurdle who was coaxed into running the line for Eltham; I should also mention two Eltham Life Members – Dave Evans and John Thompson – who braved the elements and turned up, complete with walking frames, to watch the boys play. Great dedication to our club, gents!
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