by Paul Cook –

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The Build-Up:
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West Harbour came into the game off the back of a narrow loss to Warringah, but a home clash against a side below them on the ladder offered a good chance to rack up their second win of the season. For Parramatta, it was all about getting their season back on track. Five defeats from five games was not pretty reading but the draw had pitched them against the big boys early doors. This was their day to turn things around.

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The Breakdown:
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Wests held sway for the opening quarter, an early charge-down try to Rory Sidey and the boot of fullback Angus Le Lievre helping them to an 8-3 advantage. A couple of ill timed dropped passes cruelled the Pirates from building a bigger lead before bustling no.8 Matt Coles went over off the back of a scrum. But as the half wore on, the Two Blues warmed to the task and while failing to create much by the way of gilt-edged opportunities, did pressure sufficiently enough to milk the penalties that kept them in the hunt, 18-9, at the break.

The visitors returned with a flea in their ear and a greater physicality, and when they took advantage of West Harbour’s self-imposed one man deficit for prop Nick Blacklock to drive over, it was game on. However, the rugby gods had other ideas, lightning initially forcing the players from the field with just under 35 minutes remaining, before a subsequent hail storm and deluge of rain led to the officials calling time with the result standing as it was when they departed, 18-14. Wests claimed a precious, if hollow, victory as a result while Parramatta were left ruing what might have been.

Matt Coles on the charge for the Pirates – Photo: J.B Photography

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The Wash-Up:
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“I’ve never had a game cancelled since Under 7’s so it was an unusual predicament to be in,” said Pirates’ captain Tom Games at the final whistle. “I think we still could have played but the ref was worried about the lightning. It feels empty, we wanted to try and kick on and get the bonus point but anything could have happened in that second half I guess, so we’ll take the 4pts.”

“It’s a shame we couldn’t finish the game because I thought we were progressing to the point where we needed a bit more game time to put things into action but we’ll happily take away the win,” concurred West Harbour Director of Rugby, Joe Barakat, who saw promising signs, particularly in defence, from his side across the 45 minutes of action.

“Our defence is working really well, we’re knocking people over and we’re causing a lot of turnovers,” he enthused. “They scored a try off a maul when we had a man in the bin but we’ve got to trust our defensive structures, which are working really well – people are working off their lines, people are staying in. We had really good shape out there today but we just dropped too much ball. Our decision making, execution and finishing probably need a bit more detail.”

While the home side were happy enough to notch up another tick in the wins column, in spite of the anomalous circumstances, their opponents were left bemoaning the sheer misfortune of the weather’s untimely intervention. Wests will plead differently of course but the feeling within the Two Blues camp was that momentum had shifted firmly to their side of the ledger at the cessation of hostilities. They backed themselves to go on with the job and break their drought.

“We were flat in the first half, pretty ordinary, but we were still only 9pts down,” explains Parra skipper Andrew Cox. “We got a rev up at half-time and we scored in that first five minutes of the second half and, I don’t know, it just felt like a game that we were always going to win, in my opinion. Wests are obviously going to say something different but I thought we were in control at that point and I always thought we were going to come home stronger.”

“All the boys are pretty gutted with not finishing the game. If you lose, you lose but with 35 minutes to go and 4pts in it, it was anyone’s game,” Cox continued. “Wests could have run on with it, you never know, but it would have been good to come back on Tuesday and play the last 35 minutes instead because that’s a long chunk of a game still to play.”

Both sides lined-up in commemorative ANZAC jerseys to mark the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings – Photo: J.B Photography

He too was caught unawares by the officials’ ruling.

“I’ve never had a game called off so it’s a new one for me, I didn’t know that rule,” he admitted. “You’ve got half an hour from the first lightning strike and if it keeps coming, the clock starts again. I think we got to 27 minutes and it kept going. The ref came in fairly early I thought, you have to wait for a storm to pass, but in the end they said there’s no lights here at Concord and we’ll probably end up playing in the dark by the time it clears so that was that.”

His coach Gerrard Fasavalu however, was less amenable to the decision.

“I felt they could have waited a little bit longer but what do you do?” he fumed. “I think we’re in danger of becoming a bit precious, it’s just water. I’m a Kiwi so I was used to that weather every week – just play on! We had a roll on, they had one man in the bin and we’d started to get the flow of things and then this. Who knows what could have happened? Even if they’d rescheduled it for midweek, it’s one of the worst ways to finish a rugby game.”

His frustration was obviously amplified by the fact that he saw this game as a chance for his winless side to get something on the board and build a platform for the rest of the season. Performance wise, it was an improvement on previous weeks but the outcome left little in the form of crumbs of comfort.

“Our lineout was pretty good and our scrum was getting a lot more dominant, it was just the general play where we lapsed and they broke through,” Fasavalu continued. “I wouldn’t say they were more dominant in the first half, they just used the ball a lot smarter than we did and that’s where they capitalised, scored the tries and got their points. We can take a lot of positives but it’s the worst way to lose a game. We get a losing bonus point but to be honest, it’s irrelevant.”

Rory Sidey slides home for West Harbour’s opener – Photo: J.B Photography

A little over two weeks ago, the Pirates were pondering their own state of progress having gone 0 and 3 from their first three rounds under the auspices of a new coaching team, with Joe Barakat overseeing the rugby program at Concord Oval and Mark Gudmunson the 1st Grade coach.

But a timely win over Gordon in round four reversed their fortunes and led to a much improved effort against Warringah in round five, a game they could, and perhaps should, have won.

This win, fortuitous as it was, gave them a second victory that lifts them out of the bottom four. Tom Games agreed that while the early rounds were something of a slow burn, things appear to be gradually clicking under the new regime.

“We’ve made slow progress, we concentrated a lot on defence and maybe our attack was lagging a bit but we’ve been building up the basics of defence and set-piece and trying to add another layer of attack on to that solid base each week,” he explained. “The old West Harbour would throw it about from everywhere but we don’t want to throw those fifty/fifty passes anymore and we knew Parramatta would just feed off our scraps so we made it a big emphasis this week not to be loose and give them anything.

“With Joe coming back our defence has been a lot better this year, we’ve got that attitude and we’re coming off the line and hopefully, we can keep it going for Penrith next week. If we can win that it will be three wins out of four and all of a sudden, we have a bit of momentum and a bit of confidence to work from.”

Angus Le Lievre looks for a gap – Photo: J.B Photography

The passionate Barakat was certainly feeling happier with his lot after this one but he didn’t return to Concord to help Wests merely survive, he wants them, indeed expects them, to prosper. He has his sights set on bigger things.

“It’s a win but we have to come away with bonus points against teams like Penrith and Parramatta if we’re good enough and we should have been good enough today,” he reasoned. “We have to get a bonus point next week against Penrith and then we take on Easts. To me, the next two weeks are pretty crucial to whether we stay with the pack or the pack leaves us behind.”

Parramatta meanwhile, must lick their wounds and muster themselves for the visit of Warringah to Merrylands RSL Rugby Park this weekend. A tough draw hasn’t helped their cause across the first six rounds but Andrew Cox sees the next block of matches as absolutely vital if they are to kick on and get themselves in the mix for a finals spot come season’s end.

“This result has put us a step back but we’ve got to regroup and go again,” he affirmed. “We felt really good coming into today’s game, that’s why I was confident we could do the job and I thought we could turn a page. I think there were a lot of positives to take from it. We had a few changes and I think the way we were going, we were starting to get on top and we’ve got to take that into Warringah next week, we can’t dwell on it.

“We’ve had a tough start to the year, we’ve played the top five teams on the ladder but arguably, these next four or five weeks contain games that if we can win, will get us back into that log jam in the middle, which was our goal. We’re starting to gel – we’re still way off the mark – but there are signs that it’s coming and the next month is going to be vital. If we can jag four or five wins by the halfway point of the season, we’re back in it.”

Kaleb Rech clears the ruck for the Two Blues – Photo: J.B Photography

His pragmatic – and resolutely positive – coach hasn’t lost much sleep worrying about results. He’s more interested in process, the level of performance and the fact that the season is a marathon, not a sprint.

“I don’t really look at the table,” says Fasavalu. “We’ve had a rough start, I wouldn’t put it down to the players we lost, I just think we’ve had too many lapses in concentration. It’s about sticking to your structures and knowing what works and what doesn’t work and getting a better understanding in terms of game sense, game knowledge and game awareness. We certainly didn’t have that for the first couple of rounds and that’s what really let us down. It’s just the one percenters making the difference.

“Like anything, it’s not how you start it’s how you finish. It’s no good getting out of the blocks first in a 400 metre race if the other seven guys smoke you on the inside in the last 50 metres. I’m not too concerned, as long as we’re improving and we’re working on what we need to work on and just tightening up in terms of our defence. We are a natural football team that can score tries but it’s stopping them at the other end that has been our undoing.”

He was also dismissive of the vagaries presented by the fixtures computer.

“You’re going to have to play those teams anyway and you don’t get better by playing teams that are lesser than you, you get better by playing teams that are better,” he said. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think we could turn it around. There’s no point throwing your toys out in round six, we’ve still got 12 rounds left, we’ve just got to stay positive and keep working.”

If the Two Blues can somehow harness their coaches outlook on the game and imbibe his infectious positivity and belief into their play, rest assured, there are plenty more chapters to be written on their 2015 season.