May 12, 2013
The grand final favourites for the 2013 South Burnett A Grade rugby league competition firmed at the weekend with strong victories to competition leaders Cherbourg and Wondai at Jack O’Chin Oval in Cherbourg.
After five rounds of competition both the Hornets and Wolves have had four wins, while Blackbutt and Nanango have had one apiece.
The match of the day looked to be the game between Nanango, fresh from a victory last week, and the Cherbourg Hornets.
But Cherbourg at home was always going to be a tough ask and as expected, the Hornets dominated in both attack and defence. Nanango was also hampered by having only 14 players available.
The final scoreline was 82-6 and probably could have been greater except for a heavy rainstorm that happened late in the second half which caused the handling from both sides to deteriorate.
Cherbourg’s Fred Aubrey starred on the day, with three tries and 13 conversions. In fact, he only missed one kick, his last attempt which happened as the rain started falling. He also set up at least one other try, making a break down the field before passing to Lyndon Hopkins to score.
Other try scorers for Cherbourg were Stafford Saltner (3), Nathan Gadd (3), Alexander Speedy (2), Benjamin Donnelly and Eddie Aubrey.
The half-time score was 60-nil but Nanango came out with renewed enthusiasm after the break which led to their sole try, by Pat McCallum, which was converted by Casey Morris.
With about 10 minutes left on the clock, Nanango again went close to scoring but lost the ball in the slippery conditions.
* * *
The other A Grade match played at Cherbourg was between the Blackbutt Timbertowners and the Wondai Wolves.
This was also a high-scoring match, with Wondai coming out victors 54-20, running away with the game in the 10 minutes immediately before and after half-time.
The match began evenly with Wondai (Josh Alberts) and Blackbutt (Ashley Smallwood) swapping tries in the first 1o minutes.
Recent Blackbutt recruit Richard Dynevor then scored, taking the Timbertowners briefly into the lead.
Stung into action, Wondai then put on three quick tries before half-time: Troy Kerkow (2) and Chris Bond. The half-time score was Wondai 22, Blackbutt 8.
Wondai continued the rampage after the break, scoring four tries (and crossing the line for a fifth time which was ruled no try) in just 10 minutes (Brendon List, Jameel Sullivan, Shane Cliff and Danny Alberts).
But Blackbutt were still in there trying. During the last 30 minutes of the game both sides scored twice; tries to Matt Norris and Keiran Harvey (Blackbutt) and Shane Borninkhof and Jameel Sullivan (Wondai).
RESULTS
At Cherbourg
U12s – Cherbourg 38, Nanango 10
U14s – Cherbourg 42, Nanango 24
At Murgon
U16s – Murgon 12, Nanango 18
There were no U18s played. Murgon’s next U18 game in the Bundaberg competition will be against Wallaroos at Murgon on May 18.
