Ebb Tide 2 SOBS 5
Tries: Navi x2, Robert x1, Ben x1, Matt x1
MoM: Satoshi
Roster: Blake Davidson, Byng Giraud, John Strother, Tony Greville, Petaia Usakilakeba, Jeff Bagshaw, Rick Koetje, Gary Nay, Rich Eacret, Jonathon Boughen, Scott Dowle, Andrew Fiddis, Gary Stewart, Tom Graham, Matt Falkner, Ben Maravu, Randy Horn, Ian Stagg, Satoshi Zamma, Robert Antscherl, Andrew Harvey, Navi Ratumaimuri
Water boy: Nobody
Manager: Nobody
The SOBS travelled to Victoria to face the Ebb Tide on a beautiful Sunny spring day and managed to scrape together a decent squad of 22 players to take on an always very difficult opposition, especially in their back yard.
Prior to kickoff, the SOBS presented Randy with his black shorts, as he was celebrating his 50th birthday, and there was a moment of silence for the Ebb Tide, whom had recently lost one of their own.
Both teams looked evenly matched and for the first ten minutes was back and forth, until the SOBS moved the ball quickly down the wing and Randy laid a perfect little chip ahead to keep the ball alive of which landed nicely into the hands of Ben, who then strolled away from the opposition and scored under the posts. The Ebb Tide continued to apply pressure and were in fact looking dangerous and lobbed a high up and under for which Robert collected and then in return tried one of his own kicks which went sideways, but somehow managed to land in the hands of winger Navi, who took off down the field to score in the corner. Back came the Ebb Tide again and this time they scored with their powerful N0.8 and captain, whom seemed to be involved in everything. Much to the delight of the SOBS, the whistle was then blown for half time, with the SOBS holding onto a narrow 2-1 lead.
For the first ten minutes of the second half, the Ebb Tide used the slight down hill slope to their advantage and pinned the SOBS down in their twenty two, but the defence held out and the forwards won a good steal on the lineout and the SOBS broke loose and moved the ball down to the wing and Navi was able to skip by his opposite number and go all the way to score for his second. The Ebb tide started to run the ball more, but some stellar defence by the SOBS midfield created a knock on, and Robert was able to pickup the ball and head for the try line and score for the first time in his short illustrious career with the SOBS. Back the Ebb Tide came again and used the bottom corner effectively and after a couple of crashes which were held up by the SOBS, finally breached the try line to score their second. The SOBS kept going and a nice back line move enabled Satoshi to get away and make some yards and after a beautiful back flip pass found Matt in support, whom chipped ahead and used his soccer skills to somehow out run their prop for the touch down. The final whistle was blown and the SOBS came away with a hard fought 5-2 win.
Afterwards, everyone adjourned to the historic James Bay clubhouse for a nice feast and the man of the match were awarded, and the Ebb Tide chose Satoshi whom managed to almost side step the whole team at one attempt. The festivities continued and Randy had to suffer with lots of shooters, because his wife wanted to make we sure didnt take care of him. Richie, being the responsible captain was seen pushing him onto the ferry using a wheel chair, but apparently Randy was claiming he had injured his foot during the game. The boys behaved themselves so well, that the Captain of the ferry, Rick Klatt invited the team up to the bridge for short tour. Finally, as is tradition, a stop was required at the Rose and Crown for Beers and wings.
Yet another fantastic road trip to the island
Cheers
President Matt