Bucks 28 – Wanderer’s Rovers 0
Coming of a dominant win at the end of last year and looking to make headway into the top four of the table Bucks turned up to make early inroads. Running the ball early from their own half Sou Miyake answered the call from his right side wing and ran a superb support line on the left side of the park to pick up a favorable bounce of the ball from a chip kick and dotted down under the sticks. Not long after Adriel Choy, running on the left wing, pulled out a dummy pass on the last defender selling him a ticket to catch you later alley, and cashed it in for another five.
Going forward Bucks created opportunities aplenty - with strong carries through the middle, dragging in defenders from all parts of the field and creating plenty of space either side of the park. Ed Rayfield and Gui Legond worked hard around the field whilst Rex Rustling tackled anything that moved. However with a number of dropped balls and Bucks giving away easy penalties Rovers were able to hold on with the scoreline 14-0 at the halftime break.
Coming fresh of the Christmas and New Year’s break the game had a number of stoppages with players going down and a big thanks must go out to the medical staff and Physio’s who worked overtime to look after the lads from both teams throughout.
With Bucks hot on attack early into the second half Rover’s held secure defending their own line on and repelled the Bucks attack. An ongoing issue for Bucks was repeated infringements around the ruck area which cost them significant meters and momentum - something they will be looking to rectify as the season gets near the business end.
A stand out for the day Ian Cheong, filling in at No.9 for the day, produced an individual piece of brilliance picking the ball from the base of a ruck and slicing through defenders left and right was able to score and convert his own to widen the scoreline midway through the second. And when Bucks finally managed to get the ball back into Sou’s hands again he didn’t disappoint by running 60 meters on the right wing to dot down for a second.
For the first time this season Bucks kept the opposition to zero, a sign that defensive patterns are coming into alignment – it will be interesting to see what they produce when they can keep the ball in hand for longer and not give away so many penalties. Stay tuned.
Bucks 28 (A.Choy, S.Miyake (2), I.Cheong); J.Carswell 2 cons, I.Cheong 2 cons)
Wanderer’s Rovers 0