Round 6 and we were back to the start of the regular season round robin matches. This meant an away trip to St Ives.

Prior to this week's match we had an important announcement at training, where by we named our Captain and Vice Captain for the season. Jake Jamieson was named a deserving Captain after really taking on a leadership role not only in the forwards but the whole team. I must say I was most impressed when he took over the team warm up prior to the Manly fixture. Eddie Gregory was named Vice Captain, mostly for his increased level of chatter on the field in leading the backline around. Congratulations to both boys.

So up Mona Vale road we ventured to the Republic of St Ives (RSA).

Alex Crotti was again drafted to the A’s for their top of the table clash, so Alex Robinson from the under 9’s also made the trip to give us some depth as the A’s and C’s both had games on at Boronia Park at the same time. But with Andrew and Max both dragging themselves off their death beds to play, we had plenty of reserves.

Jake lead the boys onto the field and the game commenced. St Ives received the ball and their first run broke a number of tackles only to be felled at the last line of defence – unfortunately for St Ives this was about as good as it was going to get. Some strong cleanout work and Andrew was over in the 3rd minute near the posts. Eddie converted and we lead 7-0. Another 3 minutes went by with Hunters hill dominating before déjà vu and Andrew was over again, only a bit wider out. Eddie’s kick narrowly missed and we lead 12-0.

Our scrum and lineout were on song in this match as the forwards, although not bigger than their opponents, were much hungrier and a little better technically as we managed to pilfer a number of tight heads. Some strong running by our forwards managed to secure field position and Alex Robinson capitalized as he went over to score under the posts. Kick successful and after 11 minutes we lead 19-0.

St Ives to their credit did not stop trying and soon after we saw a period of sustained attack by them on the Hunters Hill line. But the defences held and a massive clearing kick from inside our 22 relieved a lot of pressure and we were on the attack as St Ives fielded the ball inside their own 22. Patty turned this pressure into points with his first try of the season and with a successful conversion we lead 26-0.

The second half finished with Hunters Hill on the attack with a backline move that was going well but a spilt ball at the last post saw St Ives leap on the loose pill and run almost the length of the field to score under the posts. It was their first try in 4 games and the young St Ives boy was very quick as Harry chased him all the way but just couldn’t get there. The kick missed and at half time we lead 26-5.

The first half wasn’t without it’s casualties as Andrew winded himself scoring his second try, James took a knock to the nose, Harry too was winded and Sam took a big hit to his leg. But the boys all shook themselves down and returned to the field. This saw us shuffling positions a bit to cover for the injured and in second half we did some experimenting with a few positional switches to help give us some more utility value across the team.

Half time came and went and the boys continued their good work from the kick off. A penalty mid field and a quick tap and Harry had the ball. He set off for one of his trademark BIG runs and no one could touch him, with the exception of the last defender whom whilst trying to tackle him – pushed him in the back which only made Harry faster. Under the posts and with a successful kick we lead 33-5 after just 2 mins of the second half.

We did receive a couple more penalties in the second half which saw the call “give it to Harry” but they defenders were onto it and gave him no room to move. In hindsight I’d have loved to see the boys use a move we practiced at training and try a little chip over the top for the speedy outside backs. But here is always next week.

Some more good work from the boys saw Andrew bring up try number 3 in the 6th minute and again we landed the kick to lead 40-5. We continued to look promising and spent most of the remainder of the match attacking the St Ives line. Sam scooted over in the 11th minute and Max shaved the posts with his attempted conversion. Scoreline 45-5. Sam was unlucky to miss a second try when he scooted up a narrow blindside only to put a foot in touch as he went over in the corner.

The last few minutes saw us subbing boys to all sorts of positions and this coupled with a good dose of ”white line fever” kept the scoring down a bit. Eddie crashed over under the posts in the 17th minute after being held up twice in the preceding plays. Sam landed the kick with possibly his best strike ever and the score was 52-5 and this is how we finished.

I’d be here all day if I listed the good performances (and this is probably long enough as it is) but needless to say there were no passengers and some of the boys easily had their best games yet.

Best and Fairest (thanks Andrew) Tom Conoghan 3, Hugo Hughes 2, Max McKay 1, Andrew Camilleri 1

Final Score; Hunters Hill 52 (Tries – A.Camilleri 3, H. Kemp 1, S. Vanderburgh 1, P. Stevens 1, E. Gregory 1, A.Robinson 1, Conversions – E.Gregory 5/6, S.Vanderburgh 1/1, M.McKay 0/1) bt St Ives 5 (1 Try, 0 goals).

Remember – Punt high and follow through.

Coach Ben