Georgie's Match Report - Rnd 18

Georgie McHugh's Match Report - Round 18

In a quirk of fate, the Highlanders’ regular season was bookended by the Two Blues of Greater Granville. In the first round of the season, a fast-finishing Gordon were narrowly vanquished after getting jumped by their hosts.

Another fantastic Sydney winter’s day, of which there have been precious few this season, set the scene for the Highlanders who needed to claim victory to potentially finish as high as second on the table, but as low as sixth with a loss.

Coach Fehily made a few changes to the starting XV, with Conrad Cade starting at loose head prop, Thomas Maka at hooker, Faiva Faiva at inside centre with James Armstrong returning at outside centre and Will Kaye coming onto the wing. Johnny Akauloa returned to the team after injury and started on the side of the scrum.

Before people had even settled into their seats, the visitors opened the scoring with an intercept from a pass from the base of a lineout was taken by a bloke in a blue jumper seemingly standing in the Gordon backline. The Highlanders hit back five minutes later with a well-constructed rolling maul in the Trumper Pavilion corner and
Maka had his first try of the afternoon and the score was 7 – 5 in favour of the Two Blues after ten minutes in what would end up being a high-scoring game.

At the 20-minute mark, the sides exchanged tries, with Faiva scoring from another rolling maul to lock the scores up at twelve points apiece. Gordon went ahead for the first time 19 – 12 after 25 minutes as Pat Pelligrini chipped from the quarter line across to an unmarked Kaye on the eastern wing. Approaching halftime, the Highlanders registered a bonus point for four tries with Maka scoring his second try for the afternoon in identical fashion.

When the teams momentarily retreated to the sheds, the score was tighter than hoped at 26 – 24, as the Two Blues also registered their bonus point with two more tries. The Highlanders momentum in the first half came from another dominant pack at scrum time. They conceded points when they allowed the opposition out of their
own half with penalties.

Before five minutes had elapsed in the second half, Maka had his hat trick from another rolling maul from a penalty line out. The Two Blues wouldn’t go away, however, and they answered back with two tries in the next ten minutes to retake the lead 34 – 33.

With a half an hour left in the fixture, the coach emptied his bench. Joe Snow scored following the first scrum that he fed 30 metres out from the tryline. He played to Pelligrini down a short blind who fought his way to five metres out before Snow finished the job, allowing the Highlanders to crack the 40-point mark and the lead.

As expected, the Two Blues once more refused to surrender and they soon had an attacking line out five metres out. From the subsequent phase, the visitors sought to shift quickly along their line, probing for a numerical advantage out wide. And as it looked like they might indeed find that advantage, Pelligrini intercepted and took off, before finding Brandon Quinn on the halfway line. Quinn offloaded to Kaye as he reached the quarter line, and the Englishman, who still had plenty of work to do before he touched down the 95-metre effort. For the first time in the game the Highlanders enjoyed a buffer of more than a converted try.

With 15 minutes remaining, Gordon recovered the ball from a promising Two Blues raid, which allowed Pelligrini to again streak away down field to the 22-metre line.

The next phase saw the Highlanders most unlikely midfield partnership as Jack Margin promoted the ball to brother Hugh. Charging like modern-day Paul Sironen, the longer-haired Margin first stepped and then carried the ball in two hands before expertly sawing the last defender, with an unmarked Oli Arcus outside him. Alas, an
unfortunate pass, hit the ground in front of the winger. Arcus was able to gather the ball, just before it went into touch, and then he turned it inside to James Armstrong, who finished the job. The final score in a very attractive game was 52 – 34.

The final table makes for fascinating reading, with first to sixth place separated by six points and no team had fewer than four losses. It makes for a tantalising finals series. To that end, Gordon travel to Coogee Oval take on Randwick for the third season in a row in the first round of the finals. It would be fantastic to see as many
Highlanders supporters as possible make their way to Coogee to see the men in tartan avenge their heartbreak last-minute loss to the Galloping Greens a month ago and continue on in season 2025.

Until the next time we meet, make mine a Grants. Up Gordon!
Georgie McHugh