Match Reports
Senior Rugby Match Reports
All Match Reports will be posted on this page by no later than 5pm on the Tuesday after the game is played. If the match report is missing or not up to date please contatct the person responsible for each report as outlined in the section below
1st Grade Match Report - Dugald Braithwaite
2nd Grade Match Report - Peter McNamara
3rd Grade Match Report - Andrew Ashby
4th Grade Match Report - Iain Russell
Colts Match Report - Steve Martz
Under 85's Match Report - Anthony Salerno
St Ives 11 v Hornsby 14
Tries: Angus McEntyre
Cons/Pens: Angus McEntyre
Best & Fairest: 3 Andrew Morris 2 Angus McEntyre 1 Logan Harding
Players Player: Logan Harding
John Gelling and Werner Jordaan stepped up to make their 1st grade debuts against Hornsby last Saturday, in what has become a bit of a tradition this year with new players each week coming in. John and Werner both showed they have the ability to play more 1st grade and acquitted themselves well. John may be towards the backend of his career, whilst Werner turned 20 last month and is a great prospect for the club.
With 2 of the Saints form players from the last month out in Stocko and Tristo, and old legs Braithwaite in at halfback alongside the debutants, was always going to be a challenge to find continuity.
Gus continues to play well at fly half, and his quickly redeveloping his junior skills in the number 10 jersey, he was solid in defence all day a scored a strong solo try showing good courage and leg drive to get across the line. Simmo made some trademark strong runs, and put on a few big hits, but otherwise the backline was a bit sleepy.
Andy Morris and Logan were the pick of the forwards, with Dave and Matty Morris not far behind. This was a scrappy affair that never got out of first gear let alone any other gear. A stop start game with bountiful mistakes, 200 scrums and not much attacking rugby played. As witnessed by the score line.
Hornsby ultimately pilled in offside on a push over try in the dying minutes of the game; the referee was indifferent to the infringing, the ball was knocked on, and we had an ugly finish to what was an ugly game. I’m sure most of the boys will be looking forward to putting a few things right from the weekend, and really putting in a couple of massive team efforts in the last few weeks of the season.
St Ives 17 v Hornsby 0
Tries: 2 Steve Slater 1 Paddy Balfour
Cons/Pens: Shayne Lin
Best & Fairest: 3 Hamish Donovan 2 Phil Court 1 Steve Slater
Players Player: Doug Bennie
I think many of our players felt that Hornsby would be a pretty easy match. It wasn’t. Hornsby had clearly done there homework and had a mostly new cast in the team to that which we played in the first round. Ex St Ives first grader, Paul Petersen playing at #8 clearly made a big difference, as did a number of others.
So the match started with St Ives conceding a scrum from a kick of which was a shade too long, and then having to defend while Hornsby had a bit of a run. When we recovered possession, we were able to institute our normal game plan with forwards working the ball upfield steadily.
Several times the pick and drive was the chosen route, and at one stage a rolling maul of 40 very exhausting meters. After 20 minutes, a period of 8 phases by St Ives saw Steve Slater again claim the honours.
The second half was really more of the same with Saints holding possession for long periods. This time Paddy Balfour was able to use another of his very elusive sprints to score and Shayne Lin converted.
The final try was scored by Slater again after a combined effort involving everyone.
It wasn’t pretty and as several players said, the 3 weeks break we have just experienced, was very evident in the scrappy way we played. Much to do this week at training to prepare for Barker next week.
St Ives 10 v Hornsby 59
Tries: Daniel Morton/Tom Cole
Best & Fairest: 3 Tom Cole 2 Janco Lubbe/Michael Haines 1 Jason Guthrie
Players Player: Alex Dewstow
Wow, been a while since the fingers dashed across the keyboard typing one of these. Rev, if you could get the Big Guy to turn the taps off, we might get some more training and games in regular sequence. Alas, it seems that the wet weather has caused many of the St. Ives lads to hang up their boots for the season a few weeks early. Counting legs at the pre-match warm up last Saturday, we had fourteen. So with Jonno patiently waiting to have his team photo taken with no one else, third grade kicked off only with the assistance of several colts and some of those who had already played fourth grade. A massive thank you to those boys!
With no pre-match preparation, no training and some already tired legs, Hornsby set about their task with precision. The Saints managed to score two tries in each half to post some points on the board, but Hornsby ran out comfortable victors.
There was plenty of spirit and heart to take away from the game, the loss was most certainly not through the lack of trying, but you are really stacking the odds against yourselves when you start a game with thirteen players against the second placed team!
St Ives 12 v Hornsby 26
Tries: Daniel Morton/Tom Cole
Cons/Pens: Janco Lubbe
Best & Fairest: 3 Daniel Morton 2 Tom Cole 1 Janco Lubbe/James Skelly
Players Player: Daniel Morton
Once again, as has happened so often this year, a thrown together Richardson Cup side took on a very experienced Hornsby team. Play flowed up and down the field as both teams tried to gain the ascendency. It was Hornsby, however, who were the first to score. They put on a second try to make the score 12-0 at halftime. Injuries to props meant we played uncontested scrums. This also meant we could not make any replacements. Needless to say injuries happened and we were reduced to 13 men by halftime.
Coming out for the second half two men down, a runaway score looked inevitable especially when Hornsby scored a try to make the score 19-0. Saints fought back very strongly however and were rewarded with a great try to Dan Morton. Saints went on the attack from the kickoff and were rewarded with a second try this time scored by Tom Cole and converted by Janco Lubbe. Only 7 points behind we thought we maybe a chance to win. Unfortunately Hornsby ran in another try to put the issue beyond doubt.
This game showed just what we can do when we put our minds to it. The fact that 13 men kept Hornsby to 14-12 in the second half is a true indication of what could have been done this season. With only 3 games left there is still a chance to salvage some pride and maybe win a couple more games.
St Ives 15 v Hornsby 19
Tries: Jack Sedgwick/Hayden Clark
Cons/Pens: Janco Lubbe/Charlie Skelly
Best & Fairest: 3 All Forwards
Players Player: Hayden Clark
This game turned out to be a cliffhanger with no quarter given by either side. The pre match build up for both teams was intense as this match would be important in determining the semi-finalists .
Saints from the kick off were dominating the forward clashes and a penalty goal by Janco Lubbe saw us lead 3- 0 after 15 minutes.
Then the Hornsby backs cut loose to score three tries, two of which were converted for a sizeable halftime lead of 19-3 to Hornsby.
The Saints forwards had worked well as a unit to have the better of the opposition pack but lapses in concentration in the outside backs gave Hornsby easy tries.
After a halftime team talk the Saints determination came to the fore. Several replacements were made and we began to dominate all facets of the game. Eventually Sedgy pounced on a loose lineout tap down to score our first try. Then Hayden Clark forced his way over near the posts and the converted try saw us behind 19-15 with just two minutes to play. We went straight on the attack and after some powerful ruck and mauling we were within three metres of the try line when the ball went into touch and the fulltime whistle was blown.
If the game had gone another two minutes we would have scored and won the game. The whole forward pack played well and really dominated their opposition forwards.
Hayden Clark and Armand Grobler tried very hard in the backs and played well under pressure. We now need one of the semi final contenders to lose both their last two games and we need to win all of ours for us to make the semis.