ROUND ELEVEN MATCH REPORTS

Briars vs. Waverley 

COLTS
Waverley defeated Briars 17-5
Coach: Pete Kelly  

4^th GRADE
Waverley defeated Briars 45-0
Coach: Damien Johnson 

3^rd GRADE
Briars defeated Waverley 30-10
Coach: Reuben Sinai & Daniel Wilkinson 

2^ND GRADE
Briars defeated Waverley 24-21 
Definitely not the best ground Briars have ever played on and not the best preparation for some of the boys this week. But all that didn’t matter on Saturday as Briars just got home against a good Waverley team on Saturday. 

Briars started well. Good metres were made through the forwards enabling the outside backs to find holes in the Waverley backline.  With Jeremy Lawlor, Tony Kerle, Harvey Sauran and Pete Ananin all making metres out wide, Briars were camped in the Waverley 22 and it wasn’t long before Dave Ananin crossed over and converted. Briars continued to dominate with the set pieces looking good. It was all too easy for Simon Carew at the front of the lineout. He was easily winning Briars throws and stealing a few of Waverley’s. This dominance was rewarded with Pete Ananin out pacing his man to score in the corner putting Briars up 12-0 and looking good.  

Things started looking shaky for a while. The Waverley half back was applying pressure to the Briars half and managed to steal a try against the run of play. It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t deserved, but Waverley had found a way back into the match. However, Briars went back to what had worked in the early stages of the match: building phases, and making metres out wide. Paul O’Reilly went awfully close on one occasion after making a 30m metre break. It would have been harsh if Briars weren’t rewarded with another try before half time – and rewarded they were. Dave Ananin sliced through two lazy Waverley defenders and crossed under the sticks to give Briars a 19-5 lead at half time. 

What happened between the beginning of half time and about 20 minutes into the second half remains a mystery. No one can explain it, the one facet of the Briars game which has let them down all year. Briars went to sleep again. They made it hard for themselves again. Briars had a man sent to the bin for 10 minutes and crumbled. Waverley scored 2 tries and were ahead 21-19. It was a performance that would cause a coach to lose his hair. Briars battled. They attempted to slow down the game and play field position. To an extent, it worked. Harvey Sauran and Brent Tedesco both put kicks in that allowed Briars to soak up time and field position. With the score 21-19 Briars captain Andrew Bate returned to the field to even up the numbers and it wasn’t long before Briars created an overlap out wide and Pete Ananin had an easy stroll to the line. The score was 24-21 with not long to go. Briars managed to hold on. Some desperate defence and some big scrums by Shay Quilty, James Maclacchlan and Paul O’Reilly forced some turnovers.

 A big performance by the whole team, the points could have gone to a lot more people, as each player was deserving. Ian Pond at flanker had a massive game, as did Pete Finlay. They worked extremely hard all game with Andrew Bate to ensure Briars won the breakdown. Paul MacMorran had his best game of the season so far as did Harvey Sauran. However, the day belonged to the 2 Ananin brothers Dave and Pete. Two tries each and two further conversions by Dave ensured Briars were walking away with the victory and bonus point. I’m sure on this day they both had a friend watching over them from above. 

As stated, at times it wasn’t pretty, at times it was a struggle, but Briars managed to win the battle. Back at home again this weekend with St Ives on the menu. Last time the 2 teams met an under done Briars team were comprehensively defeated. But this is a new team, with a new resolve. A big challenge awaits.

Player points:3 – Dave Ananin2 – Paul MacMorran1 – Harvey Sauran
Coach: Dean Peris  

1^st GRADE
Briars defeated Waverley 41-12
Waverley at Waverley, was not a highlight in Briars 1st grade season last year, but this was a different team with different beliefs and different goals. With some of our key players out, it was great to see that players stepping up into 1st grade fit in so easily and played well. We knew Waverley would have some big players attacking hard all day and we were prepared.  

From the opening whistle Briars played to the game plan that we set and played some of our best rugby. With great patience, the team did not give away a single penalty for the whole half and it showed on the scoreboard with Briars leading 27-0. The half-time break was all positive with talk about patience and defence for the 2nd half. Briars continued to play patient rugby with a 100 knot wind straight into them. Defence was an absolute standout on the day and backed up by some great individual and team efforts, Briars ran out 41-12 victorious. This consolidated their place in the top 2 and left a big gap back to third place.  Briars have two home games in a row coming up with a chance to work on some weaknesses and secure a finals position. Good times ahead, come down and join in the fun.
Coach: Mark Gudmunson