Prems Match Report
Cottesloe prems ran amuck on Saturday to secure their first win of the 2018 season away to Southern Lions. The newly promoted side were something of a mystery and as a result there was an air of trepidation as our guys entered the unknown. They need not have worried though as they ran out easy winners, 55 to 25. There was a slight change to the starting line up as Lex Kuster pulled up lame in the warm up and Jimmy Blackburn came in for his debut. It was apparent from the first minute that Cottesloe possessed the superior forward pack as they buckled the Southern Lions front row, and this dominance continued throughout the match. Lineout and scrum were imperious and the Kieran Stringer lead forward dominated for the full eighty. Cottesloe did not have it all our own way as Southern Lions showed plenty of spirit and speed in attack to hurt us. Although leading comfortably at half time, coaches Fowler and Kirton were adamant that our attacking shape needed to be fine-tuned and also emphasised that our defensive structure needed to be tightened.
With the coaches words ringing in their ears, the prems came out and bullied Southern Lions for the majority of the second half with only momentary lapses occurring in defence. Nili Feilea, Scotty Nichol and Simi Verata all showed moments of individual brilliance with all three bagging a brace of tries. AP Carson shone upfront on debut, putting in a huge shift at scrum time and around the loose, while Kaisa Reidy and Tobias Hoskins bossed their opposite numbers. There were a couple of injury concerns for the coaches with Lachie Westwood going down with an ankle and Lex Kuster’s hamstring being two of note but most of the lads came through unscathed. Overall the coaches were pleased but noted there was work to do in training before this weeks home match versus the newly formed Coastal Cavaliers.
4th grade match Report
Cottesloe 14 lost to Curtin Uni A 31
Try scorers for Cottesloe: Nate Howard, Matt Packer, while Gene Carmichael knocked over 2 conversions.
Sunny and still at Edinburgh Oval home of the goats.... in orange and black...
The Two Blues 4s arrived early - not really a good sign - and enjoyed the sun on the edge of the car park and talked a good game. We talked a good game at the end also, just didn't quite do the bit in the middle.
Super Coaches Tim and Nick greeted players and made them feel at home as super coaches do. They have worked tirelessly recently to cobble together ex-44L, ex-Wrecking Crew, and sweet talk as many 3s as possible to back up. Players kept arriving - this was a new experience for 4s. Well played to all the 3s who made the journey across the southern suburbs from Success - much appreciated!
The Blues limbered up with half an eye on the goats B team being systematically dismantled by Soaks.
Gals won the toss and elected to receive with the wind.
Predictably the goats A team came out in front of their home crowd with a bit of fire. We talked about matching this, keeping our head, making tackles, manning up in defence, not dropping the ball....but didn't execute. The goats put on two early tries and we never really got going. After the two early tries it was pretty even on the scoreboard but too late.
Nate's try was a typical strong effort from our evergreen outside back and the Matt Packer meat pie was a really well worked effort off a line out 5 metres out.
All tried hard in patches but given most of us have not trained we pretty much played with one hand tied behind our back. Notable efforts from Cedric at #2 given he had played 3s, Brad at prop who busted up the centre every time he was given the ball, and new #10 Pomare tried valiantly to direct the backs.
The Super Coaches made their move in the post mortem by handing out Speights - they are creating their culture - and Gene hit the nail on the head "we need to do some training fellas".
Next week is a bye, the following week is a bus trip to Bunbury to play the Perth Irish!
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