Gobbledegeek 2.o

As I said previously…..they’re all big games in the run in to the finals.

The Fighting Miners will be at full strength for their clash with competition leader Cobram Dust Devils at Shadforth Park this Saturday.

In their last outing, the Miners knocked Puckapunyal Boars out of top position with a convincing win.

Bendigo coach Alan Wilkinson is confident his team can repeat the feat against the Dust Devils. In their two previous clashes with the Dust Devils this season, the Miners have a loss and a draw.

In both matches, the Miners were in a winning position until the last fifteen minutes of play but allowed the Dust Devils back into the games with a drop off in intensity and lack of discipline.

Currently, the Miners are in third position on the ladder with 36 points, trailing Cobram on 47 points and Puckapunyal on 45 points.

If the Miners can win their remaining three games with bonus points, they can get to 51 points. Both Puckapunyal and Cobram have a bye to come and will meet each other in the final round of home and away games. Accordingly, the Miners need to win all their games and hope that other results go their way in order to finish in the top two and get the double chance in the finals.

This Saturday’s game kicks off early at 1.00pm due to the Bledisloe Cup match in Melbourne.

W. Coulter

Please go along and support the lads at Shadforth Park, if you can as I’m sure they will appreciate it.

Traditional Scottish/Italian fare with a baked bean twist.

I chopped half a small onion and fried gently in a little butter. Then I broke up a slice of haggis from Rob’s in Dandenong, and mixed with the onion. Next, I added a small tin of baked beans and plastered the mixture evenly over a home-made base. I covered with an equal mix of grated cheddar and Mozzarella, then finished off with good pinch of mixed/Italian herbs. Cook in the oven as you would any less exotic pizza and Robert’s your uncle!

I waited until the kids had finished before I listed the ingredients in haggis…..”Heart!?!Lungs!?!Eeeww!”

Haggis and Baked Bean Pizza

A resurgent Fighting Miners thrashed competition leaders 46-20 in an eight try romp at Shadforth Park last Saturday.

After an indifferent start to the season, the Miners have now had an unbeaten streak of four matches.

In Saturday’s game, Bendigo ran in three tries in the first fifteen minutes through Jesse Tuitupou, Jeremy Solomon and Michael Crichton before Puckapunyal had gotten out of its own half.

Pucka then camped in the Bendigo half for a considerable period of time before the Miners’ defence was finally broken with a try in the 30^th minute.

On the stroke of half-time, Miners half-back Steve MacDonald pierced the Pucka defence in a strong 30 metre dash to establish a Bendigo lead of 20-5.

Pucka reduced the deficit to 10 points with a try early in the second half and appeared to be about to make a recovery.

However, the Miners switched back on, piling on four tries in the first 20 minutes of the second half to go out to a 46-10 lead

Scorers: Crichton 2, Thomas 2, Jeremy Solomon, J. Tuitupou, E. Tuitupou, MacDonald tries; Manderson 2, MacDonald goals.

W. Coulter

Read the full match report here.

The Miners have another bye this weekend (24th). They will be hoping for a reversal of fortunes against Cobram Dust Devils when the meet the following Saturday. The match is at Shadforth Park, North Bendigo on 31 July and kicks off at 1pm.

Note the 1pm kick-off! This is so that club members have time to get to Etihad Stadium for Wallabies v All Blacks game that evening. Tickets available at the time of this post.

In fact , it looks like they’re all big from here on in for Bendigo rugby team…

The Fighting Miners are at full strength for their clash with competition leader Puckapunyal Boars at Shadforth Park this Saturday.

After two weeks on the road where the Miners beat Border Army and drew with Cobram, they go into the match with some degree of confidence.

In their two previous encounters this season, the Boars have won both but the Miners consider themselves unlucky to have lost the last match at Puckapunyal where they scored three tries to the Boars’ one.

With four matches and a bye remaining before the finals, the Miners are in fourth place on the ladder behind Puckapunyal, Cobram and Border Army. However, three of the four games are at home and the Miners are confident of overtaking Border Army.

To sneak into the top two and get the double chance in the play-offs, the Miners need to win all their remaining games, pick up some bonus points and hope other results go their way.

The match kicks off at 3.00pm

W. Coulter

…so get your backsides along to Shadforth Park and give the boys as much support as you can. See you there!