2019 Junior Grand Finals
The Junior Grand finals were hosted by Nedlands on Saturday the 14th September on a day that was perfect for some quality games. Brothers had 3 teams lining up with our U11’s taking on Kalamunda, our U13’s taking on Perth Bayswater and our U17’s taking on Rockingham. All games were going to be close battles and thats exactly how they played out.
Under 11’s – Minor & Major Premiers
The U11 started off with a great win against Kalamunda 26 to 7. The game was a real nail biter until the last 10 minutes when the baby Brothers ran in 2 brilliant tries to put the game beyond doubt. This was an absolute boil over as the boys hadnt beaten Kala during the regular season.
Joondalup U11 Grand Final
After losing the first preliminary final to Kalamunda, the whole squad had got the bitter taste of defeat and were determined to not to taste it again.
On grand final day, from the kick off the boys showed the discipline they had shown throughout the whole season, getting a good run of penalties from the opposition being offside. With some quick taps and great support at the tackle, the backs created enough space for Oscar Maher to once again show his pace and outclass 3 Kalamunda backs running in a 50m try on the right wing. Try was converted out wide by Matthew Raaths. While Kalamunda had the size and dominated the scrums throughout the match, the Brothers from the north managed to maintain possession when they had the ball with great depth in attack and support for each other all day. Other than the try by Maher in the early stages, the first half remained an even tussle, with the stand out feature being the ball retention and solid defense from Joondalup. At times we were defending on our own try line for numerous phases while the big Kala boys were running it up hard, and then managed to turn over the ball at crucial times thanks to McCaw/Pocock like efforts from Pablo, Declan, Ben and Matt Raaths. Score at halftime, 7-0.
The second half started with some spot tackles from Ben Ridgewell, Tyson Duff and Declan Kriel, creating an immediate turnover again from Pablo. Kalamunda managed to get back the ball but immediately kicked away possession. With another great kick return from the ever present workhorse Harry Murphy, this resulted in quick ball for the backs and Conner Walker scoring a great try on the opposite wing. Score 12-0. Poor execution from the kick off from Joondalup put us under immediate pressure, allowing Kalamunda to get a string of possession and score an easy try after repeated quick taps from several penalties. Score 12-7. From this point on it was all Brothers as we dominated possession for the remainder of the game. Kalamunda continued to kick the ball away and give us easy options, and when they had the ball, we had great line speed and continued to pressure them at the tackle. As Kala kicked the ball to us numerous times, Connor and Harry were quick to react to the kicks all day as we had trained, and had great piece of mind to turn and cover time after time. This in turn gave us great momentum leading to field position, and with the forwards doing the hard work around the ruck, and Matt R and Jack Vievers leading the go forward with great passing and decision making we were quickly shutting Kalamunda out of the game. With 5 minutes to go and ahead 12-7, we put in some solid defense and hard work at the ruck allowing Pablo to win another crucial turnover penalty. The ball quickly went wide with Jack making a half break and a Sonny-Bill-like offload to Mason Doolan-Shaw, who had a ton of work to do from 50 meters out. He beat no less than 5 defenders, spinning out of tackles, using pure pace and a great fend to dot down for try number 3, with a fist pump for good measure. Matt R converted. Score 19-7. Now with only 4 minutes on the clock the boys knew they just needed to hold out a desperate Kalamunda. The U11 being the team that they were, weren’t going to take that as good enough. They spun the ball from one wing to the other, tiring out the big Kalamunda boys. With half-breaks made by Oscar, Matt R and Jack we repeatedly got in behind the defensive line. The ball went back to Conner on the left wing to dot down for his second try right on full time. Converted my Matt R. Final score 26-7
Under 13’s – Minor Premiers
So the regular season is over, our Under 13’s faced off against their foes, Perth-Baywater in the Grand Final at the riverside grounds at Nedlands RFUC. It was always going to be close, with the first 21 minutes going with out a score. The Brothers failing to convert pressure into points spending most of that time in the Bayswater half. Bassie eventually fought their way into our half, camped on our line for phase after phase the Brothers holding them out, with monster tackles and determined defense. Baywater were awarded three penalties in succession, only opting to go for goal on the third as a mark of respect, as the first two had been stopped short. 3 nil to them!
The Brothers opted to restart short, but was caught cleanly by Baywater who were able to brush off the initial tackle, and attack in open field. The Brother were caught on the back foot and Baywater were able to steel a soft try between the posts, easily converting. 10 nil them on the stroke of Halftime.
The boys new that they needed top start fast and hard, and they did not disappoint. Moving the ball well out to Ed Jones on the wing stretching his long legs past his defenders scoring just short of the posts. Travis steps up and slots a kick over in unfavorable wind. 10-7 we’re coming back. The forwards really fronted up against Bassie cleaning out well and winning ball. This allowed the boys to a get the mauls and phase ball rolling, allowing Ruiz Lee to crash over to take us into the lead. Unfortunately Travis had allot to do to make the kick, in the swirling conditions coming in off the Water. His attempt went just short. 10-12.
The game turned into an arm wrestle, with only 6 minutes left on the clock, Baywater found themselves on our line. Our guys tackled and fought valiantly but Bassie found a gap, and dropped over for a try. They didn’t find the post for the conversion but did enough to take the lead 15-12. 3 Minutes left! From the kick off we knew what we needed to do, attack and retain the ball. That’s how we started, running hard only to be driven out into touch within their 22.
1 Minute left! Bassie won the ball back but struggled to get out of their 22, so opted for a loose high ball into our half on the Stroke of full time, sadly we couldn’t catch the ball cleanly for one last movement, and the referee blew for full time. Breaking our boys hearts. Although we lost the final last year we still managed to take a step further this year, and take out the Minor Premiership, our first of many flags I’m sure off. Congratulations on a great season to all the players, coaches, back room staff and parents, that has made this our best season to date. Go Brother U14’s 2020!
Under 17’s – Minor & Major Premiers Undefeated
This was the final game of the day and was sure to be a thriller with the U17 Blue team taking on the mighty Rocky team who had won their comp for the last four years, but the additional of the U16 boys to this outfit brought a great combination of players, with the U16 winning their comp for the last three years. As the game kicked off it was evident the big Rocky boys were out to attack hard but the U17 blues defended like no other game we have witnessed this season. The Rocky 12 who was known for being the crash ball man could not break the defense with the forwards continually breaking him down. Then some magic from Dane to run 50m just short of the Rocky line but the recycled ball was quick and Michael dropped over for the first try in the corner, then five minutes later another try from the Blues with Connor going over now at 10 – 0 we knew that there was plenty of time left for Rocky to return, as the second half kicked off there was a mistaken pass from our back line which the Rocky center pounced on to score near the posts, 10 – 7 and the crowd ere getting nervous wondering if the 3 pointers earlier in the game would have been a wise choice, Ruben today though was outstanding with his high balls, line outs and strong defense, the Rocky No 6 was playing his annoying job well niggling at every breakdown trying desperately to get the blues to bite, then he had a break down the left wing and was flying but little did he know Ewan had lined him up and smashed a great tackle in from of the Blues, this lifted the boys just enough to battle to the end, then finally the ref indicated last play and Cameron kicked for touch and sliced much to the joy of the Rocky crowd but it wasn’t to be and the ball eventually landed in touch, a great game by both side but the deserved winner were the U17 Blue team taking the Minor and Major Premiership of 2019. MVP was selected by the Western Force of a well deserved Ruben.
