Thoroughbreds Major Semi Finals 2016

By David Casson

THE weather couldn’t have been better for spectators at Scone Park on Sunday for the major semi finals which saw Scone feature in the First Grade, Reserve Grade and League Tag games.

The end of the day however was not so bright for the Scone supporters with only League Tag advancing directly to the 2016 grand final.

Defeats to First Grade and Reserve Grade will see them both take on Aberdeen next week in the preliminary final for a spot in the Grand Final at Muswellbrook the following week.

League Tag

The day got off to a bright start with the Ladies League Tag responding to a rare defeat by Greta Branxton when the two teams met two weeks earlier.

Scone started with real intensity and the points started early when Ally Luck crossed after only a few minutes following a last tag option which saw the ball go to the blind rather than in the air.

Maddy Adams continued her try scoring efforts, scoring the first of three for the day when she appeared to beat half the opposition with a long run from outside the half way line.

Sofie Casson used her trademark ‘show and go’ to bring the third try in a little over 10 minutes.

Maddy Adams scored her second running on to a lovely ball from Abbey van Balen to bring the score to 18:0 after Charmaine Bloomfield converted.

Scone switched off just before half time and Greta crossed for a try on the bell providing an 18:4 score.

The second half however saw Greta Branxton come out on fire and quickly recorded a converted try to narrow the gap.

A penalty conversion to Greta then saw the difference to only 6 points.

Scone appeared to be on the back foot, however a change of procession which say Adams cross for her third changed the momentum.

Casson finished off a nice move with seven minutes to go for her second and a couple of conversions from Bloomfield resulted in the final 30 to 12 score line.

Coach Casson was very pleased to make the third consecutive grand final, “we started off really well and then had a period of about 10 minutes in the second half where Greta were making some impact on us.”

“We stuck to our guns however and managed to get back on top,” said Casson.

Reserve Grade

The Reserve Grade was pretty much one way traffic from start to finish.

Half time saw the score at 36:0 to Singleton and full time 52:12.

Scone appeared to have no answer to the Singleton attack and put up little resistance for them to score 7 tries in the first half.

The second half saw some improvements and Scone managed to cross a couple of times, however Singleton also recorded a further three.

Coach Chris Brennan had no real explanation for the performance “we knew it was going to be a very tough game but I didn’t expect that.”

“We just didn’t turn up in the first half and although there was definite improvement in the second half it way too late,” he said.

“We have a lot of work to do for next week,” Mr Brennan said.

First Grade

First Grade got off to a bright start when James Carascaalo crossed after only five minutes.

The next 35 minutes however was not pretty with consistent errors turning over the ball and simply not allowing any momentum to be gained.

Muswellbrook crossed with 20 minutes to go also.

There were no further points in the half which resulted in a 4:4 half time score.

The second half started much better for the Thoroughbreds.

Daniel Ritter was able to capitalise on some Muswellbrook errors and crossed after only five minutes.

Scone were continuing to mount the pressure and Haydon Topliss was able to go over mid-way through the second half and brought the score to 16:4 with a couple of Lachlan Walmsley conversions.

Muswellbrook’s hooker Adam Grech then left a number of defenders stranded when he crossed with 13 minutes to go.

Scone’s defence simply did not respond and the Rams crossed two more times in the next six minutes.

The conversions were not successful however they had a two point advantage and held it until the final hooter was blown.

Coach Daniel Ritter was very disappointed with the result, “we did not play well for any sustained periods and had far too many mistakes in the first half.”

“Our defence let us down at the end of the second half and we will need to be much better to defeat Aberdeen,” said Mr Ritter.

The preliminary finals will be held at Scone Park this Sunday with games commencing at 10am.

The Thoroughbreds have Under 18’s, Reserves and First Grade playing and anticipate a large and vocal crowd of supporters to cheer them on.