Callida Consulting John I Dent Cup Round Four Wrap

Mon, May 10, 2021, 6:30 AM
Brumbies.rugby
by Brumbies.rugby
Gungahlin were overpowered by Uni-Norths Owls in their Round Four clash. Photo: Jayzie Photography
Gungahlin were overpowered by Uni-Norths Owls in their Round Four clash. Photo: Jayzie Photography

Round three of the Callida Consulting John I Dent Cup is in the books with Wests the only team remaining undefeated in 2021. All the match reports are right here.

GAGE ROADS GAME OF THE WEEK

TUGGERANONG VIKINGS 32 def CANBERRA ROYALS  25

Vikings have left the back-to-back champion Canberra Royals winless for another week in a nail biting Callida Consulting John I Dent Cup match at Phillip Oval.

It was a slow start to the Gage Roads game of the week at Phillip Oval, however an early penalty kick to Pedro Rolando allowed Royals get the game's first points on the board.

Royals continued to stay strong defensively as Vikings were attacking their line, yet an offside call allowed Jack Evenden get 3 points on the board for Vikings.

After having last year off with knee injury, winger Liam Shaw showed great vision to take an intercept and get over for a try.

Once Shaw had his hands on the ball no one on the field was able to catch the speedster.

Off a line out, sleek hands and a cut out pass to Shaw saw the winger speed down the sideline to get across, scoring a double and showing no ill effects of that knee injury.

Royals continued to put pressure on the Vikings throughout the first half, a scrum right before half time saw Vikings win use to their advantage to quick hands out to wing Maika Ravouvou to send him over for a try right on half time.

Vikings came out firing in the 2nd half with Liam Bilston scoring an early maul try with a successful conversion from Evenden to bring the game to 22-22.

A crucial penalty against Royals towards the end of the game allowed Vikings take the lead for the first time during the game.

With Vikings in front, and tensions running high, the energy of the crowd was lifting the Royals to fight back and force a penalty against Vikings, bringing the score level in the last moments of the game.

The nail-biting end was not over yet, with strong attack from Vikings as they continued towards their line, a pass out to Nigel Ah-Wong sent him crashing over for a try followed by a successful conversion from Evenden to beat the home team 25-32.

Words: Michaela Foster

 

UNI-NORTHS OWLS 32 def GUNGAHLIN EAGLES 21

The Uni-Norths Owls have bounced back in a big way with a dominant 32-21 victory over a rampaging Gungahlin Eagles outfit in round 4 of the Callida Consulting John I Dent Cup Season.

A huge result for the Owl’s after a disappointing loss last week, with the side now joining Wests Lions and Tuggeranong Vikings at the top of the table heading into Round 5.

It was a slow start to the contest with both sides making multiple errors in the opening stages of the game, with a slippery ball from this week’s rain proving difficult to handle.

A penalty try saw the first points of the game head the Eagles way off the back of a dominant lineout maul from the visitors, which saw Owl’s captain Will Sankey penalized for an intentional infringement, made even worse for the home side with their captain put in the bin for 10.

With the Eagles looking to take advantage of the 14-man Owls, it was the home side who were able to apply some pressure on the Eagles line, with Thompson taking the penalty conversion from right in front to make it 7-3 Eagles.

However, it wasn’t long for Eagles lethal attack to find some open field, with Corey Toole carving a hole in the Owls defence before an offload saw fullback Isaac Crowe cross over to give the away side a 11 point lead.

The points scoring would continue with the Owl’s able to hit back through captain Will Sankey making amends for his early sin bin, closing the Eagles lead to 6.

Again, it was the Owls applying immense pressure on the Eagles line, which saw scrumhalf Hamish Dawson take advantage of a quick tap, with Thompson adding the extras to give the home side the lead.

With halftime nearing the Owls were once again putting immense pressure on the Eagles, in the final passage of play in the first half it was a magical ball from Dawson who sent Ignacio Bonsembiante crashing over untouched to push the Owls lead out to eight heading into the sheds.

The second half couldn’t have started any better for the home side, with a scrum just a few metres outside the Eagles try line it was Rye Steel who proved too strong for the Eagles crashing over giving the home side a huge advantage heading into the final 30 minutes.

With the Eagles needing to hit back to keep their hopes alive it was Kalaveti Kunatuba who was able to cease on his opportunity after an error from the Owls gifted the away side possession of the ball inside Owl’s territory. With Caputo adding the extras to make it an 8-point game.

With the Eagles looking to continue their momentum it was the Owls who were able to hold strong in defence and turn the Eagles away.

With the game wrapped up Thompson added a penalty goal to seal an 11-point victory for the home side.

The Owls will take on Wests Lions at home in Round 5 while the Eagles will host the Vikings.

Words: Lachlan Macmaster

 

QUEANBEYAN WHITES 42 def WESTS LIONS 24

The Queanbeyan Whites have won their first game of the Callida Consulting John I Dent Cup season, defeating the ladder-leading Wests Lions 24-42 at Jamison Oval in their round four matchup.

Queanbeyan Whites showed their intent early with some stinging defensive efforts that looked to have the Lions rattled while a suspected fractured cheekbone to Lion’s livewire fullback turned flyhalf Declan Meredith meant the Lions attack struggled to find their rhythm early in the clash.

It would be the Whites who hit the scoreboard first courtesy of a Liam Richman penalty goal after a physical opening exchange, and they would keep the points coming shortly afterwards when a penalty put them in attacking territory and a shift from right to left found winger Junior Tupou in space for the first try of the match.

The Lions would be the next to score when hooker Matthew Toward was the beneficiary of a dominant rolling maul close to the line to give the Lions their first points of the match.

The Whites would extend their lead with a strong run from Junior Tupou before his offload found winger Brendan Jimenez in some space and he deftly grubbered for himself to regather and score inside the left touchline.

The Lions would again take advantage of some sustained field position when Daniel Killick-Moran stormed onto a short ball close to the line and crashed over for the Lions second try of the afternoon.

The Whites would hit back on the stroke of halftime when another strong run from Junior Tupou set up an attacking chance before Zeph Toinona burrowed his way over and Richman nailed the sideline conversion to take the scores to 10-22 at the break.

The Lions would get on the board early in the second half when outside centre Liae Tuilagi stepped off his right foot and charged over and Harry O’Leary added the extras from the right of the uprights.

After a missed penalty goal, moments earlier, Whites Liam Richman would make no mistake this time around and push his sides lead out to eight points.

The Lions refused to go away in in front of a vocal home crowd, again using the strength of their rolling maul to their advantage with Brachlan Harris scoring before Harry O’Leary nailed the extras to put his side within one.

After a back-and-forth period, the Whites would again extend their lead back out to eight when substitute Davea Teoteo shrugged off three tackles to break the defensive line and drew the fullback before delivering the pass to Ben Michael Gordon to score under the posts with only ten minutes left of play The Whites would put the game out of reach for the Lions when Liam Richman converted a penalty goal before Queanbeyan rounded out the scoring for the day when Brendan Jimenez would finish off a stunning length of the field effort to see the Whites claim their first win.

Lions Head Coach Adam Butt was critical of his side’s performance, saying that his side was beaten by a better side on the day and says they will continue to work on their game ahead of next week’s match.

“We can take some positives from certain areas of the game but in the end, efforts probably weren’t good enough across the board. We know that and the disappointment in the changeroom is evident, but all we can do is come back next week and work," Butt said.

The Lions will look to bounce back when they take on the Uni-North Owls at ANU Field 1 while Queanbeyan will look to carry their winning form into their next game when they host the Canberra Royals at Campese Field.  

Words: Mathew Williams

 

ACT PREMIER 15s

UNI-NORTHS 33 def UNI-NORTHS 3

Winger Talei Qalo Wilson scored a hattrick as her side ran in five tries to none in a dominant display by Uni-Norths on their way to the top of the ladder.

 

CANBERRA ROYALS 12 def TUGGERANONG 10

Grace Kemp continued her stellar run of form, scoring the Royals two tries for the game with Niki Paterson’s goal kicking the difference between the two sides in a tense battle.

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