Georgie McHugh's Match Report - Round 16
Regardless of the season, a trip to Concord Oval is always one fraught with danger. Wests have endured an arduous 2024, as they are rooted to the bottom of the Shute Shield ladder. However, to go with their brace of victories against Eastwood in the top grade, they have given a number of fancied teams a significant fright, including a heart-breaking one-point loss to the reigning premiers and going down by less than a converted try to Gordon at Chatswood in round 10.
For the many years that I have been travelling to watch games against the Pirates, there seems to be something about the them on their home patch that almost panics teams into playing more expansive ad lib rugby. Despite what I am positive all visiting coaches give as instructions to be disciplined and play structure, that
maniacal brand of footy must surely be where the tenants of Concord Oval are in their element.
Despite some heavy rain early in the morning (it was Saturday after all), the 1st Grade teams were greeted with a glorious afternoon. The ground was, however, showing signed of the earlier precipitation. The encounter started brightly enough for the men in tartan, as they forced a mistake on the first phase after the kick off. A strong scrum, which was to be a feature of the afternoon for the Highlanders, set the platform for some strong carries, before a sweeping backline movement saw Joey Walton and Faiva Favia cause confusion in central defence and an overlap, allowing Will Kaye to pop a beautiful ball from the ground to an unmarked Brandon Quinn,
who strolled over from five metres out, to allow the visitors to take a 7 – 0 lead inside three minutes, with Walton adding the extras.
Wests were next to score on the eight-minute mark, after a weight of possession on the back of a succession of very helpful penalties for the home team. The Pirates then committed the sin of failing to hold the ball off the restart, which while presenting Gordon with a number of opportunities, they were not able to convert due to some unfortunate errors. The Highlanders had to wait until the 20th minute, when off the back of a lineout ten metres out after a penalty, the rolling maul allowed Harry Emery to cut out to Walton five metres from the line, who was too big, too fast and too strong to stop. Walton’s attempt to convert his try may be charitably explained by a slip of his plant foot and the score was 12 – 5.
More penalties allowed Wests to get deep into Gordon’s half and eventually register three points from the kicking tee with eleven minutes remaining in the half. Gordon again had chances to score before the break, but they were not able to take their opportunities, which forced them to keep Wests from scoring on a couple of
occasions. The teams went to the dressing rooms with the visitors leading 12 – 8.
A familiar storyline continued early in the second half, as the Highlanders created several fantastic opportunities that they were unable to finish off. It would have been foolish for anyone at the ground to contemplate that Wests would go away in front of their home fans on “Ladies Day”. The other enduring storyline was the Highlanders’ scrum, which was thoroughly dominant and, if anything, could have been more
rewarded than they were. The home team’s front may break into a cold sweat for some time to come at the thought of Liam Usher, Jay Fonokalafi and Tristan Fuli.
With 25 minutes remaining, Coach Fehily introduced Sydney born and raised Tongan international Patrick Pellegrini at fly half for his first game in tartan. Pellegrini has been at the Club since the beginning of the season; but, a couple of injuries have kept him from the playing field. It is fair to say that it will be an intriguing battle for
the starting no.10 jersey, as Pollack has come of age in that position this season. It was a complete change of the halves combination, as Joe Snow replaced Emery.
It was those two new players who combined almost immediately for a try. Oli Arcus gathered a clearing kick from the in goal on the sideline 15 metres into Wests’ half. He immediately swept the ball across to Quinn, who passed to Kaye on the burst twenty metres in from the opposite touchline. Several strong carries from Tom
Horan, Milan Basson and Snow, allowed Basson deputising as halfback to play to a generous blindside. Pellegrini expertly held up the defence to send Quinn down the left wing despite Wests having an extra man with Walton in the bin, before Quinn threw a speculating pass on the inside for the ball to somewhat fortuitously find Snow to fall over the line for his first try of the season.
Gordon were three tries to one and seemingly in control; but, only led 17 – 8. The score was soon 17 – 15 as Kaye’s clearing kick from the restart was charged down and Wests eventually took advantage of their minimal opportunities to score out wide and convert. With a quarter of the game remaining, the Highlanders were in for a
fight.
On the back of a penalty for a late lifting tackle, Gordon drove the ball to within 15 metres of the tryline. Carries from Walton, Basson and Prez Tafuga took the ball to within five metres in front of the right upright, before Snow fired a ball to the left to Pellegrini, who cut out to Quinn. Quinn had James Armstrong outside him on the touch line and gave a rare second try-assist pass to the man with the flowing locks for the bonus-point fourth try and a 22 – 15 score line with less than ten minutes to play. That turned out to be the final score, as the Highlanders did enough to hold Wests out on several occasions, as the home team were still somewhat amazingly
within a converted try.
A four tries to two victory sounds more comfortable than it felt at the ground. Whilst the Highlanders played most of the footy, Wests never went away and had the opportunity to nick it at the end. With all other teams close to Gordon again registering bonus-point victories, everyone stays in the holding pattern, with the Highlanders in sixth place but still only three points behind third placed Randwick. With a few interesting clashes to come in the final two rounds involving all those teams, and who knows what is happening with “Beastsgate”, the only thing that appears to be locked in is that Warringah will finish in the top two. It otherwise seems all to play for in finalising the order of the top six.
This weekend, Gordon host bitter rivals Northern Suburbs in the second instalment of the Battle of the North. The visitors will be desperate to avenge their narrow loss in round 11 at North Sydney Oval in truly biblical conditions. This will be a clash that is not to be missed. Wear your tartan and get down to Chatswood for an encounter
that will be crucial to determining the final makeup for the finals and, just as importantly securing bragging rights until 2025.
Until the next time we meet, make mine a Grants. Up Gordon!
Georgie McHugh