Preview: Brisbane Premiership, Rnd 18
Thu, 24 Jul 2008 22:55
Defending premiers Sunnybank will be primed for another demolition derby in the run-up to the Brisbane's Premier clubs finals, with a last round hit-out against University.
With all their Wallaby and Reds stars on deck the Dragons tuned up for the finals last week by crushing a handy Sunshine Coast side 73-14 to give them the best attacking record in the competition (560 points scored). In University they face the team with the worst defensive record (536 conceded).
In 2007 the Dragons launched their successful assault on the finals from the sudden death third place and will need to do the same again this year if they get past University.
The match will mark the 100th game for Sunnybank's John Dart and will also be the winner-takes-all last challenge of the year for The Caxton Cup.
Sunnybank's semifinal opponents will be GPS if the Gallopers can get past Wests in the annual Hammond-Taylor Challenge at Yoku Road.
Wests may be this year's last place finishers, but the return of Wallaby Hugh McMeniman alongside fellow Reds Poutasi Luafutu and Scott Higginbotham in the back row will give them their best forward lineup of the season.
Minor Premiers and Horsley Cup winners Brothers will host the fifth placed Gold Coast Breakers, who need to win and have either Sunnybank or GPS lose to make the finals.
Easts will pay tribute to the international career of Andrew Walker with a post-match presentation when they host Norths at Bottomley Park. After successive losses the second placed Tigers will be chasing a win to set themselves up for the Major Semi-Final on Sunday week against Brothers at Ballymore.
The other game of the weekend is between Souths and the Sunshine Coast at Chipsy Wood, with the much improved Stingrays wanting to end their year on a high after last week's disappointing result against Sunnybank.
We look at the weekend's action.
Saturday, July 26
GPS v Wests
Yoku Rd, 15.00 (05.00 GMT)
Wests, destined for last place, will look to finish their horrid season on a high when they take on a red-hot GPS outfit in the annual Hammond-Taylor challenge at Yoku Rd.
The Bulldogs have gone from Grand Final victors to last place in the space of two years, with their sole victory in Brisbane's Premier competition this season coming in Round Five against the Gold Coast.
Retaining the shield they won last year will at least give them one memento for the season. They should also be lifted by the presence of Reds Hugh McMeniman, Scott Higginbotham and Poutasi Luafutu, combining at the 'Dogs for the first time this year.
While only winning once this year, Wests have remained competitive in a majority of matches with a league high seven bonus points for losing by seven points or less.
Their season was summed up two rounds prior, where Norths stole victory with a penalty try after the siren, leaving the Bulldogs heartbroken after their most spirited display of the season.
Wests had another opportunity to move out of last position in last weekend's clash against University, but a poor showing and a 24-50 defeat led to a post-match roasting from coach David Witt.
"It was our worst performance in three years," Witt said.
"I think Norths probably broke us, to be honest. To lose that way after the bell took a lot out of them. It was pretty hard to get them up again."
With wet weather predicted for the rest of the week, Witt can enter the game confident as he fields his most dominant forward pack of the year.
"We'll play to our strengths and play a very forward orientated game. We probably have the best forward pack in the competition this week," he said.
However, Wests' problems go deeper than their inconsistent on-field performances, with Witt having to endure another disrupted week with limited training facilities.
"Part of the reason we're struggling is that we are only able to train one day a week because of our oval," he said.
"It's something that's really affecting the club as a whole."
In their last encounter GPS outmuscled the Bulldogs 44-25 and, despite the added pressure of a potential minor semifinal position, they're maintaining the confidence that has kept them in the hunt since round 10.
The Gallopers have won seven straight since that time, including defeating second placed Easts 30-13 last weekend.
Coach Mick Heenan also knows his side's strikepower isn't diminished in wet weather after their 48-7 drubbing of Norths in ghastly conditions.
"Mentally I don't think there will be a problem as a win this week will get us into the finals. That's all the motivation we need," he said.
"They [Wests] have probably got their best team of the season on paper out on the paddock this weekend so it's going to be tough."
A sudden death clash between Sunnybank and GPS waits if both teams are successful this week, but Heenan has put that prospect to one side for now.
"We're not even thinking about Sunnybank. I mean Sunnybank haven't made the four yet either so we'll worry about finals if we win," he said.
Easts v Norths
Bottomley, 15.00 (05.00 GMT)
Easts will celebrate the representative career of Andrew Walker and attempt to build some momentum heading into the finals when they face Norths at Bottomley Park.
There will be a post-match tribute to the dual international who has announced his retirement from representative football and will now concentrate solely on club football with Easts.
Walker will provide a boost to the line-up after a judiciary ruled no further penalty was warranted for his red card in last weekend's 13-30 loss to GPS.
Before the Tigers can celebrate his illustrious career, they must first concentrate on overcoming their recent on-field disappointments of consecutive defeats to GPS and the Gold Coast.
With one round remaining before Easts face Brothers in the major semifinal they will need to hit form and provide a platform to overcome their previous two losses to the Brethren.
Easts coach Pat Richards admits his side may have been caught with their minds on their semifinal clash with Brothers.
"The players say they are thinking about the game at hand, but I think it's human nature to look at [the Brothers game] as the one you have to win," Richards said.
"We're disappointed we lost against GPS because it was two weeks in a row we lost and we set ourselves the goal of winning every game, so that was disappointing. But if you look at the tapes of the game and the effort involved our blokes played pretty well. We played 60 minutes with 14 players and with 10 minutes to go it was 13-all."
A loss against Norths won't change Easts' position on the ladder and therefore Richards will be looking for a consistent and dominant display on the paddock.
"It's important we do win. We're still trying to get our best team on the field and just get our combinations together so that we can finish the season proper on a good note and get a little bit of a confidence boost.
"Norths will be hard as they'll be disappointed about missing out on the top four after playing well all season and they have some good players there who want to leave on a good note and leave a lasting impression for next year."
Norths looked certain to reach the finals this season after commencing their year with seven wins, but have only managed three wins since and now sit in sixth position.
Any chance of sneaking into the top four was ruined last week after a 31-27 loss to Brothers, but a win over the Tigers could elevate them to fifth position.
The Eagles' mid-season collapse was due to a lack of depth according to coach Chris Roche, a problem he believes should be rectified next season.
"When injuries and rep commitments hit we just weren't able to cover it. We are pleased with the rep commitments and won't use that as an excuse as we want our players to get recognised if they're good enough, but it's simply the case to win a premiership we believe you have to have about 45 players [capable of playing premier grade].
"If you look at our forward pack, seven out of eight boys are 21 or under which augurs well for the future.
"We'll be recruiting heavily again in the off-season and the beauty of it is when we first got started we needed to recruit a whole club, just about, whereas now we're only recruiting half a dozen blokes."
Roche says his side will go into the match with a relaxed attitude, as for the first time this season the Eagles will take the field with no pressure or expectation.
"I just want them to continue the style we are developing which is an expansive type of game," he said.
"If we can beat Easts we have beaten every team in the competition except Brothers and some teams twice, which has been a pretty good effort."
The Eagles have impressed with their never say die attitude during most games, but the loss of stars Blair Connor and Leroy Houston will severely dint their chances of overturning a 29-7 defeat last time the two sides played.
Brothers v Gold Coast
Crosby Park, 15.00 (05.00 GMT)
Gold Coast will have to defeat Minor Premiers Brothers at Crosby Park to have any chance of a semifinal spot in Premier Rugby.
The Breakers need to win and hope either GPS or Sunnybank stumble at their final hurdle in order to achieve an unlikely finals appearance.
They're currently fifth following three consecutive wins, three points behind equal third placed GPS and Sunnybank (55), but their recent good form will go unrewarded if the results go as expected.
Sunnybank looks unstoppable with their formidable line-up and face ninth placed University, while GPS have won seven consecutive games and host wooden spooners Wests in the final round.
The Brethren were convincing 43-21 victors last time they and the Breakers met and have only lost once this season.
Victories over Souths, Easts and Wests mean the Breakers will enter the match full of confidence, but must rise another notch if they hope to defeat an in form Brothers line-up.
Brothers continued their dominance last weekend with a 14-man defeat of Norths to move 10 points clear of second placed Easts (61).
Coach Rob Murdoch was pleased with the attitude and position of his side on the eve of the finals.
"I couldn't be happier. As a group these guys are really close and play for each other and worked hard during the season," Murdoch said.
"We've got some improvements in our execution to go, but obviously every team in the competition is trying to improve the longer the year goes on."
Murdoch will field his strongest possible side except for suspended lock Liam Shaw and injured fullback Damon Murphy.
"I think the nothing to play for attitude is a bit of a myth in this instance as we do need to work on how we're going to play or the quality of football we want to play at finals time," he said.
"What we need to work on a little bit more is our patience and our ability to go multiple phases and therefore sustain pressure on the opposition in attack.
"I'm happy with the way our defence is going at the moment. It can always be improved on but for 70 minutes against Norths last week it was very good."
Souths v Sunshine Coast
Chipsy Wood, 15.15 (05.15 GMT)
Souths will look for a strong finish to a season of 'what could have been' when they face the underrated Sunshine Coast Stingrays at Chipsy Wood Oval.
Had the Magpies won more of their tight finishes they would be in contention for a top four spot, but instead will finish the season in seventh place.
Their failure to win the tight games was highlighted in the previous two rounds when they lost to Sunnybank 25-21 and the Gold Coast 22-19.
"It's the second game in a row we've lost in the last minute or so. If we win a couple of those games we're in the semi's, so its definitely been the story of our season," said coach Dan McKellar.
"We're a better side than where we ended up, but it comes down to a little bit of inexperience."
Souths will enter the game without dynamic flyhalf Quade Cooper due to injury and faces the prospect of losing lock Van Humphries, who remains in considerable doubt.
The Stingrays are the other tough luck story of the competition, as their performances on the field haven't translated to the scoreboard.
Before last week's 73-14 loss against a star-studded Sunnybank, the Stingrays almost overcame major semifinalists Brothers and Easts.
The Sunshine Coast enter this week with four wins and despite last week's scoreline, coach Glen Panoho believes his side has earned respect throughout the competition.
"When I looked at the video tape we only made 10 unforced errors, which is less than we normally make, but the difference was the class of Sunnybank and they just punished those errors," Panoho said.
"The perception out there is that we are a vastly improved side. You have to remember that Gold Coast got 85 points put on them in the Grand Final last year.
"Our goal was that we didn't want the wooden spoon this year and to get respect from teams in Brisbane and I think we've gone a long way to achieving that.
"If you look at our points for and against from last year to this year you will notice a substantial difference. I think individually and collectively we have improved and that's what we wanted done."
With both sides' positions on the ladder unlikely to change this round, Panoho says the match has been hard to prepare for.
"It's going to be a hard one as it's a bit of a dead rubber. Both of us will want to go out and finish the season well and I've got to try and get that out to the players that we want to finish on a positive note," he said.
Last time the two faced, Souths emerged 33-19 victors.
Sunnybank v University
Oldmac Oval, 16.30 (06.30 GMT)
University escaped the wooden spoon last week against Wests, but face a much bigger challenge this week from a loaded Sunnybank line-up at Oldmac Oval.
For the second week in a row Sunnybank have named a star-studded team: Reds Greg Holmes, Ben Lucas, Charlie Fetoai and Digby Ioane along with arguably the best halves combination in the competition in Ben Gollings and Sean Armstrong.
Last time out Sunnybank demolished an up and coming Sunshine Coast 73-14 and showed the form which last year took them from third place and a sudden death minor semifinal, all the way to the premiership.
Sunnybank currently sit in equal third with GPS on 55 points and only three points clear of the Gold Coast (52), who could take advantage of a slip up from either side - provided they can also beat minor premiers Brothers this weekend.
There's extra motivation for both sides this week with the Caxton Cup up for grabs one last time this season.
Sunnybank commenced the season as holders of the Caxton Cup but soon lost it. After winning it back at the start of the month, they need only beat University to be declared the winners for the year.
In their first round encounter with University Sunnybank were 49-10 winners and University coach Nick Leah is well aware of the improvements Sunnybank has made since then.
"Personally I think Sunnybank will win the premiership so it's going to be a huge challenge. Sunshine Coast are a good team and they [Sunnybank] blew them away by 70 points," Leah said.
"We need our best performance this week and that's essentially it. Everyone's up from last weekend, but we need to back that up with a good performance this week to lead into next season.
"We're going to have to be strong at set piece if we want to win. Their [Sunnybank] line-out was very good against Sunshine Coast and I thought for most part of the game they scrummaged very well, but the big thing is just their athleticism in the backs."
Leah believes defence will be the key for his side, as well as replicating the impressive attacking display which produced 50 points last weekend.
"We've got the worst defensive record in the comp and it's not defensive structure, it's from guys not tracking and making their tackles," he said.
"If they [Sunnybank] get time to put footwork on, they're pretty hard to defend and if they get shoulders through it's always an offload and they're very accurate with their offloads. If they're able to do that then they are just about unstoppable."
University are without Brumbies flanker Mitch Chapman who Leah said was outstanding last week.
"[Chapman] was our best player last week. He shored us up particularly in the line-out and once we started getting clean ball from the set piece it really ensured we got some good go forward through the backs and we'll miss that this weekend. particularly because I rate their line-out pretty well," he said.
The two sides scored 123 points between them last weekend, however Sunnybank holds the best attacking record in the competition by some margin (560) and the Students the worst defensive record (536 points conceded).
