Match Report - NSW Cup - Melbourne v Wentworthville (2010)

Wentworthville                                48

Melbourne                         12

Andrew Ferguson

Olympic Park

Competition point-scoring machines Wentworthville travelled to a miserly cold Olympic Park to take on Melbourne in a match between sixth and seventh on the competition ladder.

Right from the kick-off Wentworthville were on the attack. Their first set ended with a bomb by Keating which was misjudged by Hitchcox. The ball slipped through his fingers and rolled dead. The Magpies got the ball back from the drop out and immediately pushed the ball right, catching the Storm defence out as they rushed up, creating clear space for Sio to run in and score out wide. Sio missed the conversion attempt and after 2 minutes, Wentworthville were up 4-0.

Hitchcox dropped another bomb in the next set but Wentworthville were unable to capitalise on the field position when Robinson knocked on just 5 metres shy of the try line.

Wentworthville’s defence ensured the Storm forwards had to work hard to get the ball to halfway and some very sound Storm defence managed to keep the Magpies attack at bay for several sets.

The Storm got their first attack on the Wentworthville line after 15 minutes, but a grubber kick by Chisholm was easily cleaned up by Nasso.

Much of the play was featured around the halfway mark of the field for 20 minutes. A Matt Keating break and a great last minute pass lead to Oake scoring under the sticks. Sio converted the try and Wentworthville lead 10-0.

Just 5 minuted later, Wright made a break down the left side and passed to Nasso who scored in the corner. Sio missed the difficult conversion.

Melbourne managed to get themselves in good field position and dominating play, but poor kicks at the end of their sets were easily cleaned up.

As the half drew to a close, O’Hanlon made a break on the right side, passed inside to Cross who put Oake away under the posts. Sio converted and with two minutes left in the half, Wentworthville lead 20-0.

Wentworthville’s kick-off in the second half was knocked on by the Storm and from the ensuing scrum, Wentworthville went straight on the attack. After some quick passing through the backline created an overlap, Sio was in space and scored out in the right corner. Sio missed another tough conversion attempt.

Melbourne received back-to-back drop outs, but were again unable to convert the opportunities into points. Pelepelese made a break through the middle and ran 40 metres before being tackled just 10 metres short of the try line. Some sharp quick passing out left created another overlap and another easy try out wide for Nasso. Sio missed the conversion from out wide, and after 53 minutes, Wentworthville lead 28-0.

Points started to flow freely for both sides from here. A knock-on by Melbourne deep in the own half, gave the Magpies a scrum. Play was moved right immediately and Uaisele scored. Sio missed yet another difficult conversion attempt.

Just three minutes later, Lee Te Maari made a break and ran 60 metres before being brought down. Play quickly moved left and Wright scored next to the uprights. Rose converted the try and Wentworthville lead 38-0.

A rushed kick from dummy half by Woolford was fumbled by Nasso in his own in-goal. From the drop out the Storm made their way up to the Magpies line. Woolford dived through the marker defence to score adjacent to the posts to put the Storm on the scoreboard. Chisholm converted and with 12 minutes to go, Melbourne trailed 38-6.

The Storm attack started to pick up a gear and five minutes after scoring, they were over the line again, after a clever inside ball put O’Regan through a gap and he scored under the posts. Chisholm again converted the try.

Any prospect of a Storm comeback was killed off when Cross made a break and passed the ball to Mortimer who ran away and scored under the posts. Uaisele converted the try to take the score out to 44-12.

With just two minutes left Wentworthville winger Ken Sio crossed for his third try out wide after some quick passing created an overlap. Wright stepped up to take a shot at goal but was unsuccessful from out wide. At fulltime, the Storm had been soundly beaten 48-12 by Wentworthville.

MELBOURNE STORM

1              Jy Hitchcox

2              James Uhatafe

3              Willie Isa

4              Michael Koko

5              Maeli Seve

6              Daniel O’Regan

7              Dane Chisholm

8              Jesse Bromwich

9              James Woolford

10           Sione Kite

11           Fred Makimare

12           Hep Cahill (c)

13           Billy Rogers

14           Sinbad Kali

15           Dale Langford

16           Mananui Te Hue Hue

17           Pulou Vaituutuu

WENTWORTHVILLE MAGPIES

1              Tim Mortimer

2              Ken Sio

3              Etu Uaisele

4              Jonathon Wright

5              Domenic Nasso

6              Matt Keating

19           Daniel Cross

8              Mitchell Allgood

9              Anthony Mitchell

10           Blake Blackburn

11           Pat O’Hanlon

20           Brendan Oake

13           Tim Robinson (c)

7              Trent Rose

12           Lee Te Maari

15           Nathan Armitt

16           Pele Pelepelese

WHEN THEY SCORED

2nd min                - Wentworthville 4-0 – Sio try

22nd min             - Wentworthville 10-0 – Oake try, Sio goal

26th min              - Wentworthville 14-0 – Nasso try

38th min              - Wentworthville 20-0 – Oake try, Sio goal

44th min              - Wentworthville 24-0 – Sio try

52nd min             - Wentworthville 28-0 – Nasso try

56th min              - Wentworthville 32-0 – Uaisele try

61st min               - Wentworthville 38-0 – Wright try, Rose goal

68th min              - Wentworthville 38-6 – Woolford try, Chisholm goal

74th min              - Wentworthville 38-12 – O’Regan try, Chisholm goal

78th min              - Wentworthville 44-12 – Mortimer try, Uaisele goal

80th min              - Wentworthville 48-12 – Sio try

WENTWORTHVILLE 48 (Sio 3, Oake 2, Nasso 2, Uaisele, Wright, Mortimer tries; Sio 2, Rose, Uaisele goals)

MELBOURNE 12 (Woolford, O’Regan tries; Chisholm 2 goals)

Referee: Henry Perenara

Touch Judges: Aaron McRoberts and Mike Smith

Crowd: 50

Half-Time: Wentworthville 20-0

Scrums: Wentworthville 11-10

Penalties: Wentworthville 4-2

Goal Kickers: Sio (Wentworthville) 2 from 7, Rose (Wentworthville) 1 from 1, Uaisele (Wentworthville) 1 from 1, Wright (Wentworthville) 0 from 1, Chisholm (Melbourne) 2 from 2.

On Report: Maeli Seve (Melbourne)

****This match report appeared in Rugby League News magazine****