Kiama Game - Saturday 20th April

Last Saturday we played Kiama at home. The ground was firm under foot despite the rain and strong southerly, perfect day for drinking beer and watching rugby.

We didn’t play a 3rd grade game. 

2nd grade was, as you would expect, a very scrappy affair given the conditions. I thought there were some very good individual performances but the team cohesion wasn’t there, too many dropped balls passes to nowhere etc. Still 2nd grade performed well given the size difference between the two sides. There’s lots of potential in this team once it can start to cohere. Unfortunately, the score blew out towards the end as Kiama’s size took its’ toll.

Kiama won 55 to nil

Kiama ran with the howling wind in the first half, with some Shamrocks kicks going backwards, line throws going sideways and passes going astray. Again, the Kiama team was considerably bigger than the Shamrocks team, who kept stepping up time and time again against the size. At half time it was 24 to 7 to Kiama and I thought the difference between the two teams was in the wind advantage.

In the second half a quick try to Kiama made it 28 to 7. Shamrocks started to get into its’ patterns and pushed the Kiama line for long periods of attack. Soon Shamrocks had closed the gap to 28 to 21 and it looked like Shamrocks would roll straight over Kiama with the wind in the second half. Unfortunately, some poor defence allowed Kiama to skip away with 3 late tries. 

Given the number of players Shamrocks had out (particularly some big tight forwards) this was a performance that can give Shamrocks a lot of heart for the coming season.

Kiama 47 to Shamrocks 21

This Saturday we play Camden at Camden.