by Paul Cook –

**********************
THE WARM-UP:
**********************

Having finished first and second last season, only to get knocked out before the Grand Final, both Sydney University and Eastwood had some unfinished business coming into this decider. Uni had lost after the bell in last season’s semi-final to eventual Premiers Manly, and having finished 2nd on the ladder this year, they exorcised some of those demons by inflicting the same fate on this year’s Minor Premiers, Northern Suburbs, the previous week. Eastwood meanwhile, had come from a long way back after a poor start to their year. Nine wins from their last ten regular season matches saw them sneak into the finals in 6th spot, before beating both Norths and Easts to reach the big dance. However, their last defeat came at the hands of the Students in round 12 (14-3), having previously lost 22-12 to them on the opening day of the season.

**********************
THE BREAKDOWN:
**********************

But despite the weight of recent history being against them, it was the Woodies who started in more confident fashion. Running at every opportunity, they looked determined to try and catch the Students napping, and an early offside penalty dispatched by captain David Sutton, was just reward.

A scrum penalty a couple of minutes later allowed Uni halfback Thomas Wilson to level the scoreboard. But it was still Eastwood who asked most of the questions in the opening quarter, several bulwarking runs from big no.8 Josh Harris a feature.

However, a couple of needless penalties piggy-backed Uni upfield in the 15th minute, and when the Woodies strayed offside, Wilson crossed the black dot once again to edge the Students in front at 6-3.

A terrific scrum from the Woodies pack on 19 minutes – marching the Varsity eight back some 10 metres or so – gave them the field position with which to strike back and forge the first five-pointer of the day.

A lineout to the tail was rumbled ahead by the increasingly confident Eastwood forwards, before being spread infield to playmaker Sutton. With four blue and gold jerseys confronting him, the skipper spotted a brief gap in the Uni line, stepped through and put on the afterburners and a tidy fend to race under the posts, before converting his own good work.

The evergreen Dave Rimmer gets Eastwood on the move – Photo: AJF Photography

Sparked into life, Uni hit back with their own try within two minutes. After his forwards had pressured a short clearing kick, winger Patrick Muller returned with interest to get his side within range. Four phases later, a surging line break from Cameron Mason punished a misalignment, and the inside centre fixed his man to a tee before putting midfield partner Nicholas Burden away for the score.

Thomas Wilson added the extras to make it a three-point ball game at 13-10, but back came the Woodies to pepper the Uni 22 from the restart. Only a couple of terrific tackles from Mason and then tighthead prop Alastair Ryan, thwarted another Eastwood score. But when they did find the line a minute later, blindside David Feketi’s effort was called back for a knock-on from veteran scrumhalf Dave Rimmer in the process.

The Eastwood scrum continued to cause problems as the half drew to a close, the Woodies continuing to pin Uni inside their own red zone. A couple of charge down clearances reinforced the choke-hold from those in white and blue, but when the half-time whistle sounded, they still found themselves an undeserving 3pts adrift.

Uni clearly kicked things up a notch after the restart, the Woodies feeling the heat and coughing up three successive penalties as a result. The Students worked it wide off a lineout on 36 minutes, and when Sam McCaffrey was lured off his line to quell a two-on-one, Uni flyhalf Will Macklin had the space to exploit, and the strength to carry through contact and power across the line while outnumbered by opposition jerseys.

Nicholas Burden celebrates Uni’s first try – Photo: AJF Photography

With the bit between their teeth, Uni kept up the pace and intensity as Eastwood struggled for possession and to exit their own half, guilty of a few pushed passes under pressure. When they were pinged for slowing the ball down right in front of the posts, Wilson took no time in extending the lead, racking up his 500th point for the Students in the process to make it 21-10.

And they kept on coming. A terrific surge from stalwart prop Ryan carried them deep inside the Woodies’ 22 once again. But when the ball went wide for Mesake Tagituimua to step in off his wing in search of the line, the fullback was dealt with in unceremonious – but legal – fashion, by a double-team tackle.

Another offside was punished by Wilson’s boot and with just under 10 minutes to go, the Woodies were two converted tries adrift at 24-10. It was pretty much one-way traffic now but some good scramble defence coupled with poor execution and option taking, prevented the Students from running away with the game.

Eastwood certainly weren’t helping themselves with a penalty count that was starting to look very lopsided in favour of Uni, Wilson pushing a long range effort wide of the uprights after another indiscretion. But the Woodies had one final rally as full-time neared, a wraparound play getting them through the line, only for another knock-on to cruel any hopes of a late comeback.

They’d played til the final whistle and given their all, but their incredible run had been ended by a Uni side whose fitness ensured they just had too much for them when it mattered.

**********************
THE WASH-UP:
**********************

Sydney University head coach James Cameron:

“Every season is a new season and this was a relatively new team but there were a few guys that went around again from last year’s painful experience. I think that was a motivating factor for those guys and this does make up for it in some way. It was definitely in the back of their mind.

“Beating Eastwood twice during the season didn’t count for anything and they had beaten Norths and Easts – both good sides – in previous weeks, and had been playing knock-out footy for a few weeks to get here, so we knew it would be a big game. The boys were confident but I wanted us to make sure that we kept that confidence in check and that they realised we had a full 60 minutes of hard work ahead of them. Fortunately, they did that and got the job done.

“We always knew that if we were there or thereabouts at half-time that we would have a stronger second half, and that was the case last week against Norths as well. This was a pretty similar game in that we didn’t have a lot of possession in the first half but we took the opportunities when they came to us. There were a few coach-killers in there at times but we just wanted to stay positive and keep the ball down their end, even though we weren’t necessarily extending the lead.

“Tommy Wilson’s a good goal-kicker and he kept the scoreboard ticking over with penalties and went through the 500 point mark for the club in the process. Not bad for a guy who started out as a hooker!”

Eastwood captain David Sutton:

“I think we had it over them early in the game but we’re a massive momentum side and I feel the momentum just shifted in the second half. I thought if we could have scored again we were in with a good chance but they just ground us out and we got stuck in our own half for too long. We just didn’t get any pill, we couldn’t clear it and they applied the pressure, and possession wins games if you’ve got it. But well done to them, they played a good brand of footy in slippery conditions.

“We scraped into the six and we even needed a result in the last round to make it, so to go on from there and beat Norths and then Easts to get here was unbelievable. But I just said to some of the boys, it almost felt like we may have played our grand final last week. I’ll remember this season forever, it’s the best bunch of boys and incredible how we dug in to play pretty much semi-final football since the halfway mark of the season. It’s been one of my favourite years.”

Sydney University captain Tyne Holmes:

“Last year was devastating and I think this year, without saying it, it was in the back of a lot of our minds because we all knew how bitter that tasted. Making it to the grand final was the first step, we’d already one-upped ourselves from 2015, but we’ve worked so hard this year and we wanted to go all the way.

“The first half was an absolute grind, they really took it to us and I think we did pretty well to hold them down in our 22 and only concede the one try. It was incredibly gutsy for us to then come away and put the pressure on them in defence and force some errors. At half-time we just said to pin them down their end, keep the pressure on and take the points when they came, which we did.

“Fitness is always talked about at the break because we know if we take it to the opposition in the second half, they’ll find it hard to stay with us. Tommy Carter ran us into the ground all year, but it worked. We did have a few opportunities in the last 20 where we could have put another two or three tries on them. It wasn’t to be but we were champing at the bit to get this one so I’m really happy to come away with it.”

SYDNEY UNIVERSITY 24 (Nicholas Burden, William Macklin tries; Thomas Wilson con, 4 pens) defeated EASTWOOD 10 (David Sutton try; con, pen) HT 13-10

Sydney University: 1. Jack Bliss; 2. Stewart Nutt; 3. Alastair Ryan; 4. Nateni Qicatabua; 5. Harrison Williams; 6. Tyne Holmes (capt); 7. Maxwell Hughes; 8. Jack Stanford; 9. Thomas Wilson; 10. Will Macklin; 11. Patrick Muller; 12. Cameron Mason; 13. Nicholas Burden; 14. Dylan Oldfield; 15. Mesake Tagituimua – Reserves: TBC – Coaches: James Cameron & Mitch Dansey

Eastwood: 1. David Fangaloka; 2. Myles Hunkin; 3. Alex Pappalardo; 4. Samuel Frogley; 5. Adrian Wyper; 6. David Feketi; 7. Conor O’Gorman; 8. Josh Harris; 9. Dave Rimmer; 10. David Sutton (capt); 11. Nicholas Tregoning; 12. Christian Hala; 13. Quin Filipaina; 14. Sam McCaffrey; 15. Brendan Maxworthy – Reserves: Akihito Ohishi; Russell Josephs; Zac Herron; Mark Frost; Jordan Gillespie; David Rose; Henry Walkerden; Andrew Ananin; Thomas Wilson – Coaches: Neil Tyler & Andy Fairfax