We witnessed another enthralling round of Rugby in the John I Dent Cup with just two games to play.
Wests 22 def by Royals 34
The John I Dent Cup match of the round has seen the Canberra Royals defeat the Wests Lions 34-22 at Jamison Oval, with the Royals now booking their place in the finals for 2020.
Pedro Rolando was once again influential for the Royals, as the scrumhalf bagged a total 14 points for the match. The Argentine also assisted winger Lincoln Smith over for the opener, with Smith finishing the game with a brace of tries.
Royals head coach Wayne Southwell speaking post-game was delighted for his side could secure their place in the top four, having disappointingly drew with Queanbeyan last weekend.
“Obviously we needed that one badly and coming off the back of last week, it was great effort, so really happy today with that,” said Southwell.
The loss sees Wests still have a chance of finishing in the top four, as they remain in fifth position, only trailing Gungahlin on point difference.
However, they now require a victory over the Whites at Queanbeyan in the final round of the regular season, having now lost their last four games. While also relying on the Royals to now beat the Eagles.
Wests head coach Adam Butt admitted his side have just not been up to scratch over recent weeks.
“We have got one game to prove ourselves,” he said. “Destiny is in our hands; it has been for the last six weeks and we haven’t been good enough.
“We score points and we didn’t consolidate little things from the kick-off and its been a habit we have got to break. It’s been happening all year and we have got to turn those points into solid exits…and get our structure and our shape back and we just aren’t doing that at the moment,” said Butt.
He also stated it was the close defeats to the Owls and Eagles in rounds six and seven, rather than the heavy defeat to the Vikings last week, that has knocked his sides confidence.
Although, he maintained if they play like the did today in the second half for a full 80 minutes, Wests will be able get back in the winner’s circle.
“To be honest I think it was the Gungahlin [and Uni-Norths] defeat[s] that {have]hurt us, two really close games in a row. It probably took a bit of air out of the tires. Last week we will just put it down to not being there.
“The boys were up to it this week; the first half was slow [and] we showed a lot of heart in the second half. Take that amount of effort into a full 80 and we will be a good team,” Butt concluded.
Words: Daniel Heinrich
Vikings 30 def Gungahlin 12
The Tuggeranong Vikings defeated the Gungahlin Eagles 30-12 after a dominant first half put them in front at Viking Park.
Vikings broke through the Eagles defence as if it weren’t there, scoring within the opening minutes of the game with a try from Maika Ravouvou.
Eagles could not find a hole in the Vikings defence, as Tuggeranong provided to be too formidable to break through, and the Eagles frustrations began to rise.
While the Eagles couldn’t find their groove the Vikings continued to look good, as another quick passing display allowed them to cut through the Eagles defence like a knife in butter, and with the try from Jed Englert the Vikings led 10-0.
The Vikings didn’t look like they were planning to slow down at all, with another try from Englert and the conversion from Andrew Robinson the Vikings were beginning to run away with it at 17-0.
Mistakes kept pilling on for the Eagles heading towards the end of the first, as a blocked kick from the 22 led to the Vikings gaining possession and scrambling over the line for another try from Ravouvou.
The first half belonged to the Vikings, dominating the Eagles, and heading into the second leading 24-0.
After a back and forth start to the second half the Vikings added to their total by hitting a penalty from Jack Evendon.
As hard as the Eagles tried, they could not get over the line and continued to struggle unable to find a rhythm.
The Eagles finally snapped their cold streak, as a break away from Tamati Ioane gave James Fenukitau the space to run for the try, and with the conversion from Matt Giteau the Eagles made it to the scoreboard 27-7.
Corey Toole wasn’t going to let his team go down without a fight, getting the Eagles another try and hoping to shift some momentum their way making it 27-12.
The Vikings would stop the Eagles in their tracks however as another penalty kick from Evendon increased the lead to 30-12.
That penalty would cement the Vikings win as they defeated the Eagles 30-12 on their home ground.
Words: James Warr
Owls 40 def Queanbeyan 12
The Uni-North Owls have beaten the Queanbeyan Whites 40 to 22 to set up a Minor Premiership battle against the Tuggeranong Vikings next week.
Owls Coach Sam Rolfe had this to say after his teams victory. “It’s nice to be back in the winners circle, just get our confidence back. We lost it a little bit with the couple of loses, it’s good to start to click again”.
When asked about the difference between this week and the last couple weeks Rolfe replied “hunger, I think we lost a bit of that hunger, that was the main one. We just have to get hungry every week and compete every week”.
The Whites started of the game the stronger side shocking the Owls by getting over the line first in the 3rd minute when Justin Sikimeti pushed his way past the Owls defence to take the Whites to a 5-0 lead.
The Owls would hit back in the 19th minute to tie the game 5-5 when Lucas Thompson was able to get through the whites defence to score. Billy Carberry would convert the try to give the Owls the lead 7-5
The owls would extend that score in the 36th minute when Maxwell Bode muscled his way over the line to give owls a 12-5 lead, which became 14-5 when the extras were added.
The Owls would then extend their lead to 19-5 right on half time Sam Mickelson got over the line after being on the receiving end of a pass by Max Bode after he broke through the Whites defence off the line out. This lead would be extended to 21-5 when the try was converted by Billy Carberry.
The Owls continue off where they left off in the first half, extending their lead to 26-5 when in the 52 minute (name) would make his way over the line to score. This would be extended to 28-5 when Billy Carberry would convert the try to continue his perfect goal kicking percentage for the game.
This lead would be extended even more to 33-5. When in the 56th minute when Maxwell Bode got his second after making a break down the sideline to score.
The Owls took their lead to 38-5 when in the 60th minute, Jordan Thompson easily got through the Whites defence to score. The lead would be extended to 40-5 when the goal was converted.
The White would finally get one back in the 68th minute when Zeph Tuinona forced his way over the line to close the gap to 40-10. This would become 40-12 when Josh Townsend converted the try.
The Whites would continue the momentum built from the last try to close the gap to 40-17 in the 73rd minute when Justin Sikimenti would push his way through the Owls defence to get his second try of the match.
The Whites would get over the line for one last try when in the 80th minute Asivorosi Senikaucava would get past the Owls defence to close the gap to 40-22.
But it would be too little too late as the Owls would come out victorious 40-22 to secure a finals spot and set up a top of the ladder clash against the Vikings in the final round.
