July 19, 2013
Competition leaders Cherbourg and Wondai – who have been looking a little rusty in recent rounds – shook off the cobwebs to record strong wins in the South Burnett’s A Grade rugby competition matches played at Wondai last weekend.
In the first match, Cherbourg ended up downing Nanango 58-20, but to be fair to the Stags they played better at times than the final scoreline indicated.
At half-time, Cherbourg were ahead 22-8 with Marcus Dynevor, Thomas Simpson, Nathan Gadd and Fred Aubrey notching up tries.
For Nanango, Pat McCallum and Shane Williams were successful.
Cherbourg’s Nathan Gadd opened the scoring in the second half but Nanango struck right back through Shane Williams getting his second. Pat McCallum’s kick was on target, taking the score to Cherbourg 28, Nanango 14.
Cherbourg then piled on three tries – two to Fred Aubrey and Nigel Williams picking up the first of his double for the day.
With 13 minutes left on the clock, the Stags were pressuring the Hornets’ line, but unfortunately for Nanango fans they didn’t come up with any points.
Nigel Williams then scored his second, followed three minutes later by Mark Saltner.
But with the score at 58-15, Nanango was still trying, with Pat McCallum scoring, and then converting after the siren.
Fred Aubrey was a point-scoring dynamo for Cherbourg; finishing with three tries and nine goals.
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The main game on the day was between the home team, Wondai, and the Blackbutt Timbertowners.
What was promising to be an interesting match turned into a comedy of errors with both sides making silly mistakes and then the scoreline blowing out in favour of the Wolves in the second half.
Wondai knocked on with their first touch of the ball which set the tone for the rest of the match.
Josh Alberts opened the scoring with a try to the Wolves; but Blake Harvey quickly replied for Blackbutt, and Ashley Smallwood’s conversion took the Timbertowners into the lead 6-4.
Wondai then scored twice (Tyrone Mikelo and Joe Sullivan) and appeared unlucky to have a spectacular diving attempt by Josh Alberts ruled no try.
But with their kicks off-target, the Wolves were only leading 12-6 when their defenders fell for a massive dummy by Keiran Harvey. Harvey then charged down the centre of the field to plant the ball under the posts. Smallwood’s kick was good, and the scores were level at 12-all.
Wondai then scored three times – Luke Hedges, Josh Alberts and Joe Sullivan – to take the lead to 28-12 at half-time.
After the break, the Wolves dominated the scoreboard with seven unanswered tries: Luke Hedges 2, Chris Alberts, Troy Kerkow, Brenton List, Lewis Hopkins and Barry Alberts. They also had other scoring opportunities which ended in errors.
The string of tries was only interrupted when a flare-up between the two sides saw one player from both teams marched for 10 minutes.
With four minutes left on the clock, Blackbutt finally managed to score again.
Blake Harvey broke through the defence and kicked ahead. Keiran Harvey collected the ball from an awkward bounce and scored between the posts. Smallwood’s third kick for the day was also on target, taking the final score to 68-18.
Luke Hedges kicked seven goals for the Wolves and Lewis Hopkins, one.
U12s – Murgon 38, Wondai 8 (at Wondai)
U18s – Murgon 46, Wallaroos 6 (at Maryborough)
Murgon U18s will face Wests Panthers at Childers on Saturday from 1:30pm.
Teams from Hervey Bay, Maryborough and Gympie will take on Wondai, Murgon, Nanango, Kingaroy and Cherbourg teams in U7s, U8s, U10s and U12s.
Mini Mod is an introductory form of rugby league, with modified rules, which emphasises skill development and having fun.
The carnival attracts more than 500 junior players to Wondai every year.
U7s, U8s and u10s play 15-minute games while U12s play 19-minute games.
