First and Second Grade
Bathurst travelled over the hill to a cold and wet parramatta to take on Cumberland in round 3.
2nd grade started poorly for the beavers with poor ball control handing feild position to the mungoes. This was converted into early points as the Cumbo big men struggled on the heavy track.
At the end of a forgettable 1st half the visitors led by 6.
In the same fashion as last week Cumberland seemed a different team in the 2nd period showing better ball control, and even managing some dry weather football as they ran in 5 second half tries. Coach Jehad Borchan was happy with the second half. ” In the 1st half we only completed 7 sets. In the second we upped our completions and our attack began to gel.”
Best for Cumberland were George Chedroui, Waqas Shahid, Saed Kowaider and John Hancock
1st grade started under torrential rain but thankfully the loyal Beaver fans stuck around. Early mistakes also cost Cumbo points but as they settled into the game they began to take control.
Cumbos pack was mobile in the wet and good second phase led to good yards in the middle.
George Azzi was devastating after switching to 5/8 while hooker Matt Pollack created havic through the rucks. Cumberland led at half time and were never threatened in the second half but to Bathursts credit they never gave and kept pushing Cumberland the full 80 minutes.
After the game stand in coach Kieran Lorraine said ” i was more pleased with our defence. we gave up 2 intercept tries which gives an idea of how well our line worked. We have to improve a lot more but i am happy to grab a win while we are still working on things.”
Best for Cumberland were Matt Pollack, George Azzi, Ellie Moujally, Darren Martin.
Cumberland will enjoy the week off before heading to Marrackville to take on the highly rated UTS Jets.
Merit League
Last saturday Cumberland and Bathurst took part in the merit league.
The Merit league is a great opportunity for old and new clubs to perticipate in a friendly, part time format.
Showing the value of the flexible format the planned 13 a side clash was changed to 9 a side and 3 periods to cater for numbers, fitness and fun.
Cumberland were strong in the first period winning by 2 tries but the bathurst boys came back strongly to win the second period. Fittingly the 3rd period ended in a draw.
When asked about the game Cumberland 1st grade coach Kieran Lorraine said “It was good to get a merit league game in today. The guys waiting to be registered as well as the the part timers who just want to play social footy got to have a run. We picked up 8 new registrations from the game so its definately worth doing.”
Cumberland are planning a more structured 13 a side merit league game against UTS on the 3rd may to accomodate both clubs having a bye in 2nd grade.
Cumberland RLFC are always keen to participate in Merit league games and strongly encourage any clubs or tertiary institutions interested to contact them through the website.
