Pre season - Game 1
CW Crusaders vs CW Scorpions
CW Crusaders
1 Nick Borcich
2 Xavier Rose
3 Tharmi Longanathan
4 Jamee Gray
5 Andrew Cameron
6 Sean Fuller
7 Jack McNamara
8 Sean Bennett
9 Sriram Gurunathan
10 Rich Langley
11 Dale Brumby (C)
12 Thamba Mamesh
13 Nath Patrick
++Interchange
14 HÂkon M¯rk
15 Alex Crampton
16 Neil Pickup
17 Rich Hingston
CW Scorpions
1 Brendon Goff
2 Robertinho Dela Cruz
3 Simon Fitzsimmons
4 Nathan Hoy (C)
5 Reuben Thomas
6 Kyle Wright
7 Matt Currie
8 Dave Richards
9 Ian Markus
10 David Kennett
11 Andrew Garven
12 Stephen Burke
13 Darren Murphy
++Interchange
14 Chris Butler
15 Tarick Weber
16 Robert Cribb
17 Kenny Dobson
This is it. The start of a new era as two sides hailing from CW land prepare to make their mark on he great game of Rugby League. This is the first game of a tri-series competition comprised of the CW Crusaders, CW Scorpions and a Jamie Lyon Invitational XIII. A large crowd has built up as we prepare for the kick-off to be taken by the Crusaders.
Gray kicks off and the crowd goes wild as its taken by Wright who gives off to big Andrew Garven who takes the first play out to the 28m line. The Crusaders front up with some huge defence, and after 4 tackles, only 7 metres are made. Markus rifles a pass back from dummy-half to Currie at first reciever who knocks on as he takes a little look at the rushing defence. This doesn't matter a bit to Fuller and Bennett who give Currie a massive hit to welcome him into the game. After tackle 1 of the Crusaders set, hooker Gurunathan scoots out of dummy-half and finds a hole in behind the Scorpions defence, only to be brought down by fullback Goff, 5m out from their own line. Great defence by the Scorpions forces a knock on and a penalty allows them to get out of their own half. Another penalty for offside in the Crusaders half in the 6th minute, and Currie puts the ball through the posts for the first points of the match. 0-2 to the Scorpions.
Gray replies in kind 6 mins later and the scores are back to level. The match is evenly contested until the 38th minute when the Scorpions had a try disallowed after good lead-up work by Wright, whos 2nd man pass found a hard running Fitzsimmons who broke through 2 tackles before flicking a pass out as he went down in the takle to Dela Cruz on the wing, who was ajudged to have touched the corner post before grounding the ball. The next set of 6 from the Crusaders was electric and was sparked by a great run by Hakon Moerk. Thomas gave a penalty away after holding Moerk down 5m out from the line after coming across in cover defence. Centre Gray had no problems with putting the Crusaders up 4-2 at half time.
The Scorpions started strongly in the 2nd half despite losing Wright who appeared to suffer a headknock when making a tackle on burly lock Nath Patrick. Scorpions crossed 3 minutes into half time when Stephen Burked crashed over from 5m out after recieving a nicely held up pass from Markus. Dobson failed with the conversion and the score was 4-6 to the Scorpions. The Crusaders bounced back 10 mins later when Xavier Rose crossed out wide after great leadup work by Langley. From then on, the Scorpions self destructed, giving away copious penalties, allowing Gray who was on fire with the boot, to slot 3 more penalty goals on top of his 2 from the first half as he finished with 6 from 6. Both teams often threatened the line, but poor handling and inexperience were the downful as the spectators sat out a rather dull affair in the 2nd half. CW Crusaders running out victors, 16-6.
Crusaders 16 def Scorpions 6
Crusaders
Tries: Rose.
Goals Gray 6(6)
Scorpions
Tries: Burke.
Goals Currie 1(1)
Player of the Match Awards
3 points : Rich Langley (Crusaders)
2 points : Tharmi Longanathan (Crusaders)
1 point : Xavier Rose (Crusaders)