Gobbledegeek 2.o

The Fighting Miners failed in their quest to win back-to-back premierships when they were defeated by the Puckapunyal Boars 6-5 in a quagmire at Puckapunyal last Saturday.

Torrential rain had covered the playing surface with about 50mm of water which soon cut up to become a quagmire. Adding to the difficult conditions were intermittent downpours and a strong wind.

The Miners had first use of the wind and were soon made aware that the Boars had come to play with spirit and determination. The normally dominant Miners’ scrum was shunted in the first two encounters.

Throughout the first half, the Boars dominated field position and possession. The Miners’ ball retention was poor as passes were pushed, catches spilled and lost in contact. The Boars capitalized on this superiority with a penalty goal in the 30^th minute to set up a 3-0 lead at the interval.

The Boars stretched their lead with a second penalty goal early in the second half.

From this point onwards, the Miners lifted their intensity. Inspired by some dominant tackles by the Tuitupou brothers, the Miners brought themselves back into the contest.

They finally troubled the scoreboard attendant in the tenth minute of the second half when centre Michael Crichton scored a try in the corner after a crisp passing movement by the backs.

Bendigo continued to press forward with Jesse Tuitupou, Konrad Fepuleai and Johneen Fagavao making strong runs.

They were rewarded with a penalty goal opportunity in the midway through the half in a handy position but the kick went wide.

From this point on, play rarely moved out of the area between the quarter lines as the two teams slogged it out in the mud.

The Tyson’s Reef Hotel player of the day award went to Jesse Tuitupou. Others to shine included Fepuleai, Nick Dehnert, Elson Tuitupou, Johneen Fagavao and Michael Crichton.

Scorer: Crichton try.

Team: 24 N. Poingdestre, 2 E. Tuitupou, 3 J. Tuitupou, 4 N. Dehnert (c), 5 B. Westley, 6 A. Saville, 7 D. Fallaver, 8 K. Fepuleai, 9 S. MacDonald, 10 Jon Solomon, 11 J. Learai, 12 J. Fagavao, 13 M. Crichton, 14 Jeremy Solomon, 15 J. Manderson.

Replacements: T. Henderson, L. Tuitupou, S. McGrail, S. Fagavao, P. Thomas.

Reserves: T. Mulvaney, J. Jeffries, S. Queally

Emergencies: L. Eriksen, N. Whittle, V. Liufau

W. Coulter 54439165

The Fighting Miners travel to Puckapunyal on Saturday seeking back-to-back premierships in the VRU Country Division.

The Miners will go in as underdogs against the minor premier Puckapunyal Boars who have beaten the Miners in two of three meetings this year. The Boars will also be rested after a week off while the Miners disposed of the Cobram Dust Devils in a bruising contest last weekend.

The Miners expect to be at full strength with only flanker Allan Saville under a fitness cloud. Saville strained a calf muscle in last week’s game but is hopeful of being fit to take his place.

The Fighting Miners are celebrating their fortieth anniversary this year and are hoping for a twelfth premiership to crown the celebrations.

The Fighting Miners playing squad is the epitome of multiculturalism and family traditions:

• there are five sets of brothers in the squad;
• seven of the players are sons of former players;
• players originate from seven countries – Australian both white and indigenous, New Zealanders both pakeha and Maori, PNG, Samoa, Tonga, Norway and Ireland.

The match kicks off at 3.00pm.

There are still seats available in the players & supporters bus which leaves Shadforth Park at 11.30am.

W. Coulter

Scoring records tumbled as the Fighting Miners humiliated a hapless Border Army team in the minor semi-final at Shadforth Park last Saturday.

Spearheaded by centre Michael Crichton, who scored an incredible nine tries, the Miners completely dominated proceedings, scoring twenty two unanswered tries.

From Crichton’s first try in the second minute of play till Vaai Liufau’s try in the final minute, the Miners were unrelenting. The longest period between tries was eight minutes midway through the first half.

The new records established for the Bendigo Rugby Club were:

•    most points in a match 140 eclipsing the 122  scored against Echuca-Moama in 2002;
•    most tries in a match 22, surpassing the 18 scored against Echuca-Moama in 2002;
•    most points in a match by an individual (Michael Crichton 45) easily beating the 33 scored by former Tongan test player Tevita Asi against Harlequins in 1994; and
•    most tries by an individual in a match (Michael Crichton 9) eclipsing the previous record of five held jointly by Leo Toma, Brent Karl, Warren Meeks, Gideon Tauelangi and Sione Uhi.

Had coach Alan Wilkinson not invoked the mercy rule by replacing Crichton with ten minutes left on the clock, Crichton would probably have reached double figures so easily did he breach the feeble Border Army defence.

The forward pack set the tone for the match when they took two tight heads at scrums in the first minute of play. By half-time, Bendigo had scored ten tries and established a 66-0 lead.

Referee Tony Miller took pity on the out-muscled Border Army scrum when he ordered uncontested scrums early in the second period.

Despite Wilkinson progressively emptying the bench, the scoring rampage continued in the second half. Crichton added three more tries to his first half six before being substituted.

The Tyson’s Reef Hotel player of the day award went to Crichton. Others to play well included Jesse Tuitupou, Johneen Fagavao, Elson Tuitupou, Josh Manderson, James Learai and Steve MacDonald.

Michael Crichton in action

Next week, the Miners will contest the preliminary final against the Cobram Dust Devils at Koonoomoo. The Dust Devils lost the major semi-final to the Puckapunyal Boars 7-12 in sudden death overtime after the scores were deadlocked at 7-7 at the end of normal time at Puckapunyal.

Scorers: M. Crichton 9, S.MacDonald 2, J. Tuitupou, K. Felupeai, Jon Solomon, J. Learai, J. Fagavao, V. Liufau, S. Fagavao, J. Jeffries, P. Thomas, T. Henderson, N. Poingdestre tries; J. Manderson 15 goals.

Team: 24 N. Poingdestre, 2 E. Tuitupou, 3 J. Tuitupou, 4 N. Dehnert, 5 B. Westley, 6 A. Saville, 7 D. Fallaver, 8 K. Felupeai, 9 S. MacDonald, 10 Jon Solomon, 11 J. Learai, 12 J. Fagavao, 13 M. Crichton, 14 Jeremy Solomon, 15 J. Manderson, 16 L. Eriksen, 17 V. Liufau, 18 S. Fagavao, 19 J. Jeffries, 20 P. Thomas, 21 N. Whittle, 22 S. Queally, 23 T. Henderson

By W. Coulter

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.

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.