Take-Off: Eastwood’s Tom Hill gets airborne by Souths on a day when defences ruled
Photo: PL6 Photography

by Paul Cook –

It wasn’t pretty but on a day when cold, wet and windy conditions were always unlikely to encourage a running game, Eastwood’s defence has just about outpointed Southern Districts to see them home to a gritty 16-13 win at Forshaw Park.

In what now shapes up as a dress rehearsal for a potential meeting between the two sides in week one of the finals, the chances of an expansive spectacle were severely reduced with the late omissions of the influential Ben Volavola and Ben Connolly for the hosts, while the Woodies went in without their leading try scorer, Nick Batger.

However, that didn’t stop both sides trying to keep ball in hand whenever possible and while Eastwood dominated large parts of the opening stanza, and should have gone to the sheds with a lead greater than 8-0, the Rebels fought back hard after the break, pushing their opponents to the brink before a Michael Kovacic try sealed the win, despite a late five pointer for Souths.

It was Eastwood who settled the quicker, dominating possession early on and building plenty of patient phases but it was clear that Souths’ defence was in no mood to cough up any easy scores. Having shipped 41pts to lowly Norths last weekend, defence had been an obvious focus during the week and it showed as time and again, the Rebels’ linespeed and aggression held the advancing Woodies at bay.

Souths’ Alex Gibbon made a welcome return from Aussie Sevens duties – Photo: PL6 Photography

Souths actually missed the chance to take the lead from a rare foray into opposition territory, Richie Williams pushing a penalty wide of the uprights. But with the visitors struggling to find holes in the Rebels line, they didn’t pass up their first opportunity to get on the board at the 10 minute mark, Ben Batger stepping up to earn a 3-0 lead.

That could have been cancelled out immediately by an offside penalty at the other end but Williams again pushed his kick wide as the wind made life difficult.

With coach Manenti calling for a lift in intensity from the sidelines, the Woodies stepped up a gear and with the likes of Kovacic, Pat Sio and Jared Barry getting them on the front foot, the spaces out wide for John Grant and Brad Curtis began to open up.

A concerted assault on Souths line at the end of the first quarter got Hugh Roach within a metre of the chalk but when halfback Mick Snowden then went for a quick recycle, his opposite no, Chris O’Reilly, took one for the team, preventing a near certain try and seeing yellow for a deliberate offside as a result.

Roach thought he was over off the next phase, driving forward under the posts but he was wrapped up superbly by the bear like grip of Rebels captain Jed Holloway, who held him up in goal.

Showing admirable patience, the Woodies reset and went again and after a series of scrappy scrums – unfortunately, a feature of the afternoon – they produced a nice wraparound play between Snowden and flyhalf Jai Ayoub, to put winger Curtis over out wide. Batger couldn’t add the extras.

Unfortunately for Curtis, the try proved to be his last significant action as he then popped a hamstring from Eastwood’s next attack and was replaced by Ben Shorter. But the backline change didn’t cruel their attacking intent, Batger held up over the line a minute later after a terrific line break and offload from Kovacic.

While defending manfully, Souths were struggling to create anything of any real threat at the other end of the field. Execution has been a bugbear for them all season and time and again, a dropped ball or inaccurate pass cost them dearly, while also giving Eastwood the chance to strike off turnover ball.

Brawn & Guile: Eastwood loose forward Jared Barry gave another example of his power game alongside some deft handling skills – Photo: PL6 Photography

The scoreline remained at 8-0 as the half drew to a close and while the Woodies had held sway for the first forty, they hadn’t managed to put the points on the board to take them away from their hosts. By contrast, if Souths could add some danger and execution in attack to build on their defensive effort, you had the feeling there was plenty left in this game for them.

The introduction of Afa Pakalani when the sides returned, was just the injection of invention the Rebels required and after Asquith took over kicking duties to slot a 42nd minute penalty, momentum suddenly turned in favour of the home side.

Kieran Black was getting through a terrific amount of work around the fringes and with the always impressive Holloway in tandem, halfback O’Reilly was afforded a better platform to pick out his runners, and in Pakalani, they have one of the most dynamic and elusive.

The Rebels got an even better chance to assert their dominance in the 52nd minute, a brain snap from Snowden seeing him lift Black off his feet, over the horizontal and back to ground which ignited a period of handbags between both teams and saw Snowden sent to the bin.

Captain Holloway pointed to the posts and Asquith duly obliged to make it 8-6 but a scrum in front of the posts with Eastwood missing a halfback would have been interesting. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Midfield Dynamo: Tom Hill provided plenty of hit-ups for his side as well as adding plenty of starch to the defence
Photo: PL6 Photography

This was Souths’ big chance but while they had the man advantage and dominant field position, they still lacked that cutting edge to make good on their build-up play. In Asquith, they possessed a running no.10 that poses a significant threat with ball in hand but – understandably given his paucity of time in the role – doesn’t offer perhaps the same level of structure and control that Ben Volavola has provided over the last month for the Rebels. Not yet anyway.

Any momentum Souths were building was quelled when Tom Hill took on the breeze and won with a superb kick from distance and the visitors were back out to a 5pt lead at 11-6.

Hill had a chance to extend that further with another long range effort but pulled it just wide and when Snowden returned to the fray, Eastwood had not only survived intact but found parity on the scoreboard in their undermanned 10 minutes.

Souths’ failure to profit in that period proved pivotal as the Woodies upped the ante in the closing 15 minutes and got back to the patient possession play that had been a feature of their first half display.

Applying pressure inside Souths’ 22, they pinned the Rebels back and tried to force an error. And it worked.

Trying to run the ball out of his red zone, Asquith was wrapped up by Kovacic, who then caught everyone on the hop as he emerged from the tackle with the ball and strode over in the corner for what proved to be the match winner.

Souths then produced their best moment of the match seven minutes from time, holding the ball for 17 phases and softening up the Eastwood line before a darting Asquith made some amends for the try at the other end, jinking his way through and holding off a couple of tacklers to stretch for the chalk in style.

The Aussie Sevens representative dusted himself off to slot the conversion and leave a 3pt ball game with around five minutes to play but Eastwood showed their game smarts to run down the clock with possession and territory and hold on for a hard fought, but just about deserved victory.

Eastwood 16 (Ben Curtis, Michael Kovacic tries; Ben Batger pen, Tom Hill pen) defeated Southern Districts 13 (Paul Asquith try; Paul Asquith con, 2 pens)