RugbyShout

Caleb, ol' skool, like his boots...

Sunshine Coast has recorded a boilover victory to defeat the highly fancied Sunnybank and win through to this year’s Brisbane Premier rugby grand final where they will face the red-hot Red Heavies next week.

In a game that was riddled with errors and the shrill of the referee’s whistle, former All-Black Caleb Ralph turned back the clock to score a try 8 minutes from time and make sure the three bus loads of Sunny Coast supporters went home happy.

The first 10 minutes of the match was played in slow motion with neither team looking settled or willing to knuckle down and play solid rugby. Perhaps Sunny Coast had an excuse missing captain Gareth Coulston and not having experience to draw on but with Bank having a decent smattering of professional players, such waste was hard to excuse.

After penalty goals to either team, the game lurched from knock-on, to forward pass, to penalty and back again until Sunshine Coast sprung a surprise in the 17^th minute.

From a lineout just inside the Dragons half, Sunny Coast went wide and outflanked Sunnybank with dashing winger Thomas Cox burning his opposite and running 40 metres before offloading under pressure to inside centre Toese Lealamanua who scooted over.

Maurice Stone slotted the extras from just right of the poles and the lead was 10-3.

It was the brightest moment of the half which then returned to its earlier malaise. The only other highlight of the half was the punishing running of Leroy Houston who constantly made metres off the back of the dominate Bank scrum and around the ruck – including one dash with his shorts around his knees!

The Stingrays kicked another penalty goal through fullback Alex Millington just before halftime and went to oranges with an unconvincing 13-3 lead.

The second half started brightly for Sunnybank who secured the ball after a Stingray turnover and drove toward the posts. The Coast gave away a penalty and instead of going for the points, Sunnybank captain James Kruikelis opted for a lineout.

This decision paid an immediate dividend as the forward based game of the Dragons proved too powerful as they drove a maul from the lineout win with  Kruikelis crashing over. Jason Hofmeyr couldn’t kick the conversion from wide right but Bank were back only 13-8 down and looking as if they had found their mojo.

Sunnybank failed to go on with it however and once again the game descended into an advertisement of how not to play rugby. With neither team capable of consistently winning their set piece, catching and passing and the added impairment of an officious official, it was pretty hard going.

On the 55^th minute James Kruikelis was sin-binned for killing the ball as the Stingers pressed the Dragons line. The Sunny Coast tried to make the most of the opportunity but it was no surprise when they botched the attacking chance and Bank cleared.

The binning of their captain seemed to spark Sunnybank who produced their best rugby of the match. Finally they looked cohesive and moved the ball well putting the tiring Coast under pressure.

This pressure tolled in the 63^rd minute when Leroy bashed over from 2 metres out after Bank had spurned another penalty goal opportunity for a lineout from close range. It wasn’t a pretty try but it was a try that was born out of sustained hard work, a first for Bank in the game.

With 15 minutes to go and the Dragons ahead by 15-13, it looked as if the Sunshine Coast’s castle was indeed made of sand as Kruikelis return from his enforced lay-off.

Toutai Kefu then went to his bench and the Stingers looked re-invigorated with Louis Fesolai and Isaac Helu adding spark and the Coast enjoying their best passage of play.

Inside the last 10 minutes Bank were still clinging to a slender lead and when the Coast were penalised for hanging on at a ruck, it looked as if the Dragons had the momentum and would see it through.

But, as with most things, Sunnybank made a hash of the simple stuff and failed to put the ensuing penalty into touch. To compound this error, Sunnybank fullback, Jason Hofmeyr, fumbled the return kick over the sideline to give away a lineout.

It was now or never type stuff and the Stingrays were able to win the lineout and send the ball wide. Replacement inside centre Lousi Fesolai chipped a ball through for his centre partner Caleb Ralph who surprised everyone by winning the race to touch down 10 metres in from touch.

Fullback Milligain kicked the conversion to give the Sunshine Coast the lead that would not be headed.

Sunnybank had a late chance to snatch a win with a lineout 5 five metres out with the clock ticking down however once again the ball was spilt the moment they tried to go any further than two passes wide of the ruck.

Despite a couple more heart palpitations in the closing seconds, Sunshine Coast came away with a win and the long suffering supporters raised the McLean stand roof as Damien Mitchelmore blew his over-used whistle for the final time.

Sunny Coast coach Toutai Kefu was fairly circumspect about the win but also had some words of warning for their opponents in the grand final.

“When we play top four teams such as Sunnybank we have to play to the best of our ability. We didn’t do that today, but it was enough to win.”

Kefu then fired the first shot of the grand final week mind games hinting that Sunny Coast had at least an even chance.

“There’s a lot of things, a lot of factors, the referee, wind, weather, a lot of things can go wrong. If we turn up mentally then we are in with a real shot.”

One thing is for sure, with 6 bus loads of Sunny Coast faithful making the trip to Ballymore next week they won’t lack for support, and with most of the neutrals backing the Coast, could there yet be a sting in the tail of this years comp?

The Wallaroo backs showed all the class expected of them, running in three tries in the first 24 minutes, but the unpracticed side lifted the foot from Wales’ throat with ill-discipline, conceding three yellow cards in the 10 minutes either side of the break in the sometimes fiery encounter.

Wales pulled back the 14 point lead with a penalty try (collapsed maul) shortly after half time while #8 Alex Hargreaves was serving a ten minute spell for repeated breakdown infringements (sound familiar? although to be fair, she was on her feet on this occasion).

Coach John Manenti’s injection of squad captain Cheryl Soon and seasoned backrower Debbie Hodgkinson assisted in slowing the momentum of Wales, who had tightened their attack and showed some flair with fullback Non Evans making inroads.

Wales scored again and were aiming for a bonus point for a close loss before fullback Trish Brown finally secured the 4-try bonus point for Australia with another sparkling attack in the last play of the game.

Australia looked good counter-attacking and when moving the ball wide off the set piece. Trish Brown and winger Nicole Beck really capitalised on any space they were given, and outside centre Sharni Williams was marvellous running straight and hard. Inside centre Cobie Morgan also showed great feet to score.

The Wallaroo backrow was also dominant, and effectively slowed Wales’ ball, which gave the Aussies plenty of time to set the defensive line. Strong defence, even when down to 13 players, is probably one of the biggest pluses to take from the game.

Less good was the ill discipline. Over-enthusiasm told in a hefty penalty count and lost momentum. The more accomplished sides will punish the Aussies if this persists into the remaining games.

The set piece was also shaky. Lineout ball was always messy and an improvement is needed here for the Wallaroos to give their speedy outside backs a chance. The scrum was inconsistent.

All told, the Wallaroos will be happy they did the job in their first test match in 12 months, but there’s a lot of polishing to do before we take on defending champs New Zealand on 24 August – a mere three days away. New Zealand well and truly showed their intent with a 55 – 3 victory over South Africa yesterday.

In order to qualify for the semis, Australia will need to either finish top of the “Pool of Death”, or be best runner up across the three pools. We’ll need a bonus point win over South Africa on 28 August, and a victory or close loss in the Black Ferns match.

Fox Sports 2 are broadcasting the Wallaroo’s matches at 7am the day after each match.

Platinum Leopards fullback Jean Tiedt and loose forward RW Kember, have been suspended for one week after being found guilty of foul play during last Friday’s Currie Cup match against Western Province in Potchefstroom.

The English Rugby team heads to Gosford in search of their first win of their Australian tour as they prepare to take on the Australian Barbarians again. Both teams have made a number of changes from the sides that took the field in Perth last week.

For the Poms winger David Strettle and out centre Dominic Waldouck are the new faces in the backline whilst, the pack has been almost completely re-shaped. Jon Golding and Paul Doran-Jones are two more props we get to observe destroy our inexperienced front row, whilst Dan Ward-Smith joins the stomper Dave Attwood at lock.  A completely new back row will be on show as Stefan Armitage (brother of fullback Delon) joins forces with James Haskell and Joe Worsley.

Haskell will be the only double up from Saturday night’s test where he started on the bench. Matthew Tait, who was also on the test bench but remained unused, will back up his bench sitting duties for this match as well.

For the Aussies we’ve stuck with the exact same prop as last game in Weeks and Cowan and one would think that Weeks in particular may be under consideration for a test call up. The big name in the front row, in more ways than one, is Tatafu Polota-Nau who returns from injury and will be using the game as some form of fitness test in anticipation of his return to the Wallaby 2 jersey Saturday night.

At lock Mitchell Chapman’s impressive game last week has seen him remain in the side, 17 stiches and all, alongside Reds lock Rob Simmons.  This selection sees the Tahs fans crying out in support of Kane Douglas as he ones again rides the pine. Aussie 7s captain Pat McCutcheon will start the match at openside flanker, replacing Matt Hodgson whilst Stephen Hoiles will captain the team from Number 8.

Kurtley Beale has been named at flyhalf for the encounter due to Berrick Barne’s return to the test team with Peter Hynes in at fullback the only other change to the backline.

There aren’t too many surprises on the bench. Test rookie James Slipper will get another chance to impress when he gets a run whilst test players Burgess, Barnes and James O’Connor will probably see as little of the match as possible, injury permitting.

Once again, unless policy at Fox Sports has changed, this match will be live streamed at www.foxsports.com.au, and will not be televised.

Steve Walsh will referee.

Last week, David Gronow sent me some pictures and facts about his grand father Ben Gronow to be shared here...

So here are some bits of the remarkable story of a Welsh gentleman who started his career as a brilliant Rugby Union (Bridgend and Wales) fullback and kicker - he gave the very first kick-off in newly built Twickenham, Jan.1910 - , then moved to Huddersfield to become one of the world leading Rugby League forwards, and later became the first British professionnal player to join Australian National Rugby League as Grenfell coach-player...

Thanks a lot, David ! 

As David puts it :

Ben, a stonemason with huge hands, was born on March 3 1887 and started his rugby career with Bridgend Harlequins. He was one of a family of nine children and he followed a well-worn path from Bridgend Harlequins to Bridgend (union club). In 1908/09, he was captain of Bridgend and made 16 appearances for the Glamorgan County side.

Ben, a superb goal-kicking full-back who, because of his size and strength, moved up to the forwards in rugby league, went on to play for Wales at senior level, making his debut against France on New Year's Day 1910 at Swansea where he scored a try in the 49-14 victory (large team picture here). Despite his tremendous kicking abilities, those three points - which is how much a try was worth in those days - was his only score in an international jersey for the Welsh union team.

He went on to play again in that first-ever Twickenham match against England on 15 January 1910 which Wales lost 11-6, before completing the Four Nations against Scotland in Cardiff, which Wales won 14-10, and Ireland in Dublin where the Welsh won 19-3.

David Gronow [...] recalled how his grandfather began to attract the attentions of the Northern Union clubs and particularly Ebbw Vale due to his union exploits, but in 1910, Huddersfield got his signature and at the age of 22, Ben went north for a fee of £120.

Ben made his debut for Huddersfield against Ebbw Vale on September 3 1910 when the Welsh team were part of the Northern Union, and went on to make 395 appearances for the club, scoring 80 tries, kicking 673 goals, accumulating 1586 points.

By the end of the 1910 season, Ben had played 31 times for Huddersfield and also won his first Welsh Rugby League international cap when they played England at Coventry.

In the years that followed, Ben was to ascend to real stardom. He was part of the 1914/15 'Team of All Talents' at Huddersfield which won all four trophies available to them - the Challenge Cup, the Rugby League Championship, the Yorkshire League Cup and the Yorkshire Cup.

It was a team captained by Harold Wagstaff and was the culmination of a period of dominance in rugby league which was the best in the club's history. [...] Ben rose to such status in rugby league that he would have toured Australia with the 1914 Great Britain side had injury not struck him down.

He went off to serve in France but re-established his rugby career at Huddersfield on his return.

 

He went on the 1920 Great Britain tour of Australia and New Zealand and went again to Australia four years later when, at 34, he became one of his country's oldest tourists, and went on to represent Great Britain on seven occasions.

Incidentally, here are two "Melba" pictures of the 1920 touring team in Australia (Sydney, June 1920), both provided by Rugby League collector Stuart Quinn (thanks, Stuart!). (BTW, you could also check some of my old posts about Huddersfield here or there ). (also cf large picture of the 1920 team)

David further explains :

The most famous of those pioneering adventures that Ben made, however, was to become the only British player for 50 years to play in New South Wales or Queensland when he made the unusual decision to sign for a small-time rural club called Grenfell in 1926.

"...during the 1924 Lions tour of Australia, Gronow was approached by Harry Sunderland (who was the Australian team manager) to take up a coaching offer in Grenfell, in the mid south-west of rural NSW. [...] Gronow accepted the offer, returned to Australia in 1926 to play for Grenfell, before moving back to England for the 1927-28 season........the decision to move to Australia primarily based on wanting to improve the health of his eldest son who suffers bronchitis and is in need of a dryer climate."

And David concludes :

On his return to Yorkshire in August 1927, Ben played mainly for Huddersfield reserves before his retirement [...] at the age of 40 (after brief spells at Featherstone Rovers and Batley).

 

He later served on the club's committee, was made an honourary member of the club and was one of 21 names inducted into the Huddersfield Rugby League Club Players' Association Hall of Fame in 1999. He died on November 24 1967 aged 80.

David's memo about his grand-father is available online here.

And now waiting for Wales to play France next Friday night... exactly 100 years after Ben Gronow's debut...