Hornets Take Home The Cup

20130519 President's Cup — Man of the Match Fred Aubrey scores the first of his three tries for Cherbourg

May 20, 2013

Rugby League fans at Saturday’s President’s Cup match in Nanango can’t complain about a lack of action … 100 points were racked up in a display of free-flowing and entertaining footy put on by Wondai and Cherbourg.

The President’s Cup is a break from the regular league competition to allow the two sides currently at the top of the ladder to play for a trophy.

Cherbourg and Wondai have met twice already this season, with a win apiece and only one point difference in their scores.

For much of the first half, Wondai was starved of possession, but when they did get the ball, they looked dangerous.

Cherbourg opened the scoring with a try to Lyndon Hopkins. The Hornets scored twice more (Nathan Gadd and Stafford Saltner) before Luke Hedges put the first points on the board for Wondai at the mid-point of the half.

Wondai then managed to hold the Hornets at bay for another 10 minutes before Fred Aubrey broke the deadlock to score for Cherbourg, followed by a second try to Saltner.

With five minutes left in the half, Troy Kerkow barged across the line for the Wolves. Luke Hedges converted, to take the half-time score to Cherbourg 29, Wondai 10.

The Wolves were fired up after the break and with the ball going their way for a change, put on four back-to-back tries in just eight minutes (Brodie Litfin 2, Troy Kerkow and Luke Hedges). Wondai was now leading 32-28 and the pro-Wolves crowd was cheering.

But the Hornets weren’t about to let a trophy win get away and just looked to change gears.

With 27 minutes left, Thomas Simpson crossed the Wolves’ line to even the score at 32-all.

Cherbourg then started piling on the tries: Fred Aubrey, Faron Aubrey, Ivan Harrison and Fred Aubrey (again).

With eight minutes to go, Wondai finally earned some possession again, which led to Jack McDowall scoring Wondai’s last try for the day.

To rub salt into the wounds, Cherbourg scored again with just 42 seconds left on the clock … Daniel Cobbo crossing to take the final score to Cherbourg 62, Wondai 38.

At the end of the game SBJRL President Terry Conway congratulated the Hornets on their win.

He presented captain Paddy Alberts with the trophy and awarded the Man of the Match prize to Fred Aubrey, who finished the game with three tries and nine conversions.

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Don’t forget, Kingaroy will be hosting the 18 years State Secondary Rugby League Carnival from Thursday (May 23).

The four-day carnival will feature teams from 12 football regions across Queensland: Metropolitan East, Metropolitan West, Metropolitan North, South Coast, Wide Bay, Sunshine Coast, Capricornia, North Queensland, Peninsula, South West, North West and Darling Downs.

They will play a round robin of 50-minute games at T.J. O’Neill Oval with the finals being played on Sunday, May 26.

Six games have been scheduled to be played each day.

Spectators are invited to view the rugby league stars of the future in action.

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