S3, SRC Final: Spartans vs. Sharks (Completed!)

The weather's damp; it'll be slightly tricky for the backs tonight. The stands are filled up as the two teams walk about between a legion of honour of local school children holding flags. Rob Cribb takes a small detour to have a chat to a couple of flag-carrying schoolgirls.

 

2:45

Great defense from Dave Eggman. First, a tackle on Jordan Logan slows down a good Sharks attack, and then he follows up by smashing Samuel Yates in a massive tackle and winning the turnover. The Sharks were only 5m away from the try line there, but Blunder can only clear 14m upfield.

 

5:45

That man Dave Eggman again with another huge tackle; this time on Eddie Morris as the Sharks dominate the early attacking play. Blunder made an error at the breakdown, not releasing the ball allowing the Sharks to attack the corner. Scoble found touch, but Chung stole the ball at the line out from a poor throw by Morris. Simon Laing then ripped the ball from Chung as he attempted to run the ball out.

With the pressure back on the Spartans, Eggman's hit on Morris caused the knock on and a good scrum allowed the Spartans to clear their lines.

 

8:15

Pressure tells on the Spartans as continual Sharks attacks yield another penalty. The only thing really costing the Sharks so far has been woeful work at the line out where the Spartans already have three steals. Despite a steal by John McGrath, once the ball comes to Chung, he's hit in a big tackle by McDougal who really prevents Chung from releasing. The ref sees otherwise and awards the Sharks the penalty.

Following solid Spartans' defense, Scoble goes for the three points this time and nails it.

Spartans 0 - 3 Sharks

 

11:45

With Spartans finally in the Sharks half on attack, Jake Luffman puts through a grubber. The Sharks gather the ball, but get slow play as the ball carrier is tackled.

The Spartans are up quickly and the Sharks look to try and run this out. The ball comes out to Welker after a shocking pass from Bakkum off the ruck needs the big man to clean up. Davis runs through and before Welker can react, he's nailed. The ball takes an age to be released, and it's no surprise that the ref awards the Spartans a penalty.

We're right in front of the posts here, and Luffman takes the shot at goal to level the scores.

Spartans 3 - 3 Sharks