Round 7 - And after what seemed like an eternity we were back at the home of Rugby – Boronia Park. This was to be possibly our hardest test yet, facing a Wakehurst team that was second only to us on the table, and on a four game winning streak.

We had a full team for the clash with the prodigal son “Alex” returning, and James Guy stepping in from the C’s. We also had extra reserves in Joey, Layton and Paul from the A’s in case of emergency.

The boys were pumped up for a big game and after a slight delay due to the ref being late, we kicked off.

Wakehurst came out very hard and from early on it seemed their tactics included a lot of kicking in behind us to turn us around. We in fact spent most of the first half in our territory as the Wakehurst boys piled on the pressure. But time and time again we defended our line and kept them out, via a big run by some of the forwards or a clearing kick.

Our cleanout was unusually scrappy in the first half as a lot of the forwards were not getting to the breakdown quickly and this cost us on occasion. But the scrum was solid, with massive pushes gaining multiple tight heads and valuable possession. In the second half we were even penalized for pushing too far (how do you complain about effort like that?) So too was the lineout on song - which I thought was above any level we’ve shown so far.

Probably a bit against the run of play towards the end of the second half, Harry got his hands on the ball and as he is prone to, went for a massive “burn” up the field around a couple of would-be defenders and over out wide to put us up 5-0. He then backed this up with a great kick that hit the upright and unfortunately bounced out.

I must say this is the first week that I have forgotten to start a stop-watch (rookie error) and didn’t realize that the first half went 5 mins overtime, and as “Murphy’s Law” would have it, a speculative kick from Wakehurst bounced away from our fullback and right into the arms of a Wakehurst runner whom scored under the posts in the 25th min of the first half. A kick from in front and for the first time this year we were behind at half time 7-5.

I’d like to think it was the inspiration half time speech, but in the second half the forwards came out a different team. The halftime break did the world of good as we began to dominate all facets of play. James Guy came on and he made some fantastic charges from general play and penalties that saw some continued pressure on the Wakehurst line. James Guy actually got over the line once only to be adjudged to have lost it forward in the process of grounding the ball. But the scrum made sure that we got the tight head and soon after Liam plunged over in the corner. 10-7 and a kick from out wide just missed, but we were back in front.

More strong running from backs and forwards soon had us back in attacking territory and when the ball was actually spread out wide along a backline that passed the ball – Harry had room. A quick dart towards the corner and a late cut back in and Harry had a double. Another hard kick from out wide and we lead 15-7 AND by more than a converted try.

We fumbled the restart a bit and gave Wakehurst some territory and they made a break up the wing, but Eddie came through in the last line of cover defence knocking the runner into touch and that was about as much pressure as we felt in the second half. The whistle blew soon after and it was over – the ref had only played a 15 min second half to make up for the first half.

The game was a real hard tussle - although it did nothing for the coach’s blood pressure. The boys really stood up to a team that stretched them and without the aid of any “A” players showed that they can do it all on their own. I am extremely proud of their effort and performances so far.

I can’t name all the good performances from the boys in this game, but I will mention a couple of boys that had big games and were unlucky not to score best and fairest points. Harry, Tom and James Rennie all had huge games and deserve a pat on the back for their efforts.

This weeks Best and Fairest points went to 3 - Dan (huge running game), 2 - Liam (scored a try and ran well) and 1 - Patty (tackled hard and ran straight).

Final Score; Hunters Hill 15 (Tries – H.Kemp 2, L.Houlihan 1, Conversions – H.Kemp 0/2, E.Gregory 0/1) bt Wakehurst 7 (1 try 1 conversion)

Coach Ben