July 1, 2012
The promised rugby league A Grade triple header at Cherbourg on Saturday afternoon dropped back to a double after the Nanango Stags, for the third time this year, failed to field a team, giving Wondai the win by a forfeit.
However the other two matches more than made up for this disappointment.
In the local derby, an amazing 118 points were ticked up in an entertaining game between the Cherbourg Hornets and the Murgon Mustangs, with the undefeated competition front-runners soaring to an 84-34 victory.
It would be fair to say tackling wasn’t a strong point for either team, but the crowd loved the ensuing runs that almost always ended in a try.
The goalkickers also put on a show with Fred Aubrey booting home 14 from 14 for Cherbourg, and Louis Hopkins 5 from 6 for Murgon.
Murgon opened the scoring with two quick tries by Jameel Sullivan in the first seven minutes.
Cherbourg then struck back through Carl Aubrey and Justin Prior. At the midway point in the first half, the score was locked 12-all.
The Mustangs’ Chris Bond broke the deadlock, and with Hopkins’ kick, Murgon was back in front 18-12. Just three minutes later, Cherbourg took a quick penalty which led to Robert Miller scoring. Fred Aubrey’s kick brought the score back even, 18-18.
In a indication of the speed of the game (or the lack of defence), five tries were scored during the last 10 minutes of the first half: four to Cherbourg (Cecil Sullivan, Nathan Gadd, Gerry Prior and Carl Aubrey); and Charlie Paiwan ran the length of the field to score for Murgon.
At half-time, the score was Cherbourg 42, Murgon 24 and the Hornets’ dominance was beginning to show.
After the break, Cecil Sullivan and Edward Aubrey put on quick tries for Cherbourg before a cross-field kick set up Kane Liddy to cross for Murgon.
Two more tries to Cherbourg’s Charlie Bond and Cecil Sullivan were racked up, before Charlie Paiwan picked up his second for the Mustangs. At this stage, Cherbourg was ahead 66-34.
In the last 12 minutes, the Hornets scored three more times, with Justin Prior (his second), Keith Gadd, and Paddy Alberts all successful.
Cherbourg finished with a 50-point margin, much to the delight of the home crowd.
This was the Hornets’ 10th victory in the 11 rounds played so far (they won by forfeit over Nanango in Round 1).
In the first match played on the day, the Kingaroy Red Ants notched up a tidy win over the Blackbutt Timbertowners, 42-20.
Kingaroy full-back Richie Dynevor opened the scoring for the Red Ants in the first two minutes with a quick try in the corner.
Just five minutes later the Red Ants conceded a penalty close to their line, providing the perfect opportunity for Blake Harvey to cross for the first of his three tries for Blackbutt.
Harvey was the Timbertowners’ stand-out player all day, showing agility and a quickness of step which left the Red Ants racing to catch up on more than one occasion.
Kingaroy (Ash Smallwood) and Blackbutt (Clinton Harvey) then swapped tries, taking the score to 12-8, the difference being the accuracy of Matthew Allen’s boot for the Red Ants (Allen kicked seven from seven on the day).
Allen crossed the line himself four minutes later and converted his own try, taking the score to 18-8.
Both sides tested each other’s defence – with neither breaking through – for the next 15 minutes or so before Kingaroy achieved the upper hand with Mick Smallwood and Lachlan Brown scoring.
At half-time, the scoreboard was 30-8 in favour of Kingaroy, which probably didn’t reflect the amount of involvement that Blackbutt had in the game up until this point.
Blake Harvey quickly rectified this after the break, scoring two quick tries – including a length-of-the-field break – for the Timbertowners.
With both kicks by Shannon Smallwood successful, the score was now 30-20 and Blackbutt seemed likely to test the second top team on the ladder … particularly when Harvey looked set to take off again but failed to take a pass cleanly.
Kingaroy then settled back down and scored twice more, with Corey Burton and Blake Cowburn crossing, but strong Blackbutt defence prevented at least three other Kingaroy raids.
In the last five minutes, it was the Red Ants’ turn to defend but they withstood two determined Blackbutt attacks, right up until the full-time siren.
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In the U18s matches played at Biggenden, Kingaroy defeated Wests 20-0 and Murgon and the Wallaroos played a 28-all draw.
At Salter Park, Across The Waves defeated Eastern Suburbs 28-16, which has allowed Kingaroy to slip into equal points position with Easts at the top of the ladder.
The U18s ladder after Round 11: Eastern Suburbs (14) – ahead on for/against, Kingaroy (14), Across The Waves (12), Hervey Bay (10), Wallaroos (7), Murgon (7) and Western Suburbs (2).
[Video by Qld Country Rodeo]
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Next week’s games: There will be no junior rugby league because of the school holidays. Three senior matches (Kingaroy/Nanango, Blackbutt/Murgon and Cherbourg/Wondai) and an U18s match (Murgon/Easts) have been scheduled for Wondai.
