The Gungahlin Eagles ran absolute riot over Easts at Nicholls Enclosed Oval on Saturday afternoon, clinching victory with a 74-5 demolition of their opponents.
Throughout the entire match the Eagles had the upper hand in all areas of the field. Gungahlin were composed, patient, and used the talent that they have when Easts were on the back foot.
From the get go, Easts were not in the contest. Penalised multiple times in their own 22’ for continuous infringements around the ruck and the scrum meant it was 14-0 not even 10 minutes into the game.
Eagles flyhalf Isaac Walker controlled the pace of the game and used the momentum of the forwards from set piece to let his backline loose.
A standout performance from Tamati Ioane at Number 8 again proved how much of devastating player he can big.
The big man started a terrific team try as he busted through Easts defensive line only to fire a miracle pass to JP Fenukitau who then made his own miracle pass stick to Wez Rockogawa’s hands to score in the corner.
Handling errors cost Easts dearly. Many of Gungahlin’s tries came off the back of Easts making a mistake and then capitalising.
Duffey picked a on loose ball to then run it from halfway to under the posts leaving the Eagles way in front 28-0.
Rockogawa bagged a double before half time thanks to some quick thinking from Mack Henson.
The young Brumby player caught Easts napping after being penalised and pounced on the opportunity to turn them on their heels before offloading the Rockogawa.
Gungahlin led 33-0 heading into the sheds at half time.Easts started the second half extremely positive.
They looked determined to turn themselves around and make an impact. Captain George Morseu made a break down the sideline and passed it on to Epeli Ula to score in the corner.
However, this was the only positive of Easts day as they were not or not even get close to scoring again.Gungahlin’s Ioane scored another try in the second half the same way he scored in the first and Rockogawa managed to bag four tries by the full time whistle.
Duffey was another standout as he scored a hat trick as well as Ray Dobson diving his way across the line in the second half. Dobson was very impressive come scrum time as the Eagles were able to always push the Easts back, even on their own feed.
By full time, the Eagles had managed to score 74 points as opposed to only 5 that Easts managed to come by.
Easts will need to review their performance today and work extremely hard at training as they were never in contention in any area of play.
After last weeks upset victory over the Tuggeranong Vikings followed by todays win, the Eagles are looking like a serious threat this year and should definitely not be counted out as championship contenders.
Words: Rob Davison
