|
Game Reports
Round 10 Gold CoastGPS scrape past Breakers The Gold Coast Breakers were looking to change the second half of an unlucky season against GPS but lost the momentum in the final seconds of a gruelling but hard fought 37-31 affair at Albert Park. Five minutes into the game, GPS took advantage of a mistake, scoring the first points of the game with a textbook penalty kick. With the lead behind them, a cheeky lineout tactic by GPS proved insufficient against the barnstorming Jordan Rapana who has cut his teeth with the Super Rugby franchise the Western Force this year. Tactical drilling by Gold Coast coach Garrick Morgan on his backline was quite apparent as they seemed to have some new tricks up their sleeves. "They are definitely fighters these boys and I think they proved that today," Morgan said. Jeeps' backline was not in such good form as their opponents, as they had a few sloppy passes and retention deficiencies. The Gold Coast defence fought a long battle to fend off a try by GPS fullback Joshua Logan but could not stop him in the end as he scored a hard earned try. This seemed to only give the Gold Coast more inspiration to fight a battle they wanted to win so badly to take them higher on the ladder in the competition. Breakers' Mike McDonald looked like an army tank as he drove the ball through a number of GPS defenders, holding them up, only to set up a textbook try in the opposite corner by Jordan Rapana. After a tennis match of a first half, both teams were aware of what they needed to do to become victorious as the scoreboard remained tight. From the immediate whistle of the second half it was clear that GPS were on the attack as Josh Logan scored a quick try in a matter of seconds. This didn't phase the Gold Coast, who fought hard to get the ball out of their territory and claim some GPS turf. GPS seemed to have a large impact on the scrums as they tended to dominate even if wasn't their possession. After GPS Byron Roberts scored a full field try it almost looked like judgement day for the Breakers although the Breakers scored back-to-back tries that took them one point in front of a tired GPS. Within the final seconds of the match and the tensest moment the Breakers have had yet this season, the defence could not hold on their own line and GPS managed to wriggle onto the try line and place the ball down. The final whistle blew and the battle was over with GPS being the winners. GPS coach Matthew Pini said "That was a hard one to watch, but we took it in the end. The Breakers' definitely put up a fair fight though." GPS 37 (S Satui 2 tries J Smith R Smith tries P Smith 3 pens 4 cons) d Rugby Gold Coast 31 (L Evans C Manning D Nethery J Rapana tries D Nethery pen 4 cons) Match Report by Ian Edgehill Game Reports Round 18 Souths Semi- Final Round 17 Norths Round 16 Wests Round 15 Easts Round 13 Sunshine Coast Round 10 Gold Coast Round 9 Souths Round 8 Norths Round 6 Easts Round 5 Sunshine Coast Round 4 Sunnybank Round 3 Brothers Round 2 University Round 1 Gold Coast |
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
