The Margaret River Gropers have extended their winning streak to more than 30 games after defeating Bunbury Bulls 25-10 on Saturday.
With a sloppy start to the match it looked like Bunbury might be the team to muscle away the Gropers’ streak but the boys in black and green soon rallied to take control of the match.
A missed tackle saw Bunbury run away with the opening try of the match to put the Gropers on the back foot.
Now aware of Bunbury’s strength in the forwards the Gropers went back to basics and used their strong backline combination of Dan Lee and Sam Henry continuing to make gains.
They finally cracked the line at the 20 minute mark with Sam Henry taking advantage of a Bunbury blunder in front of the line.
Despite putting the pressure on Bunbury the Gropers could not crack through the line. Silly penalties, knock ons and being outsized in the forwards left them wanting at the critical moments.
The Groper’s new recruits were not used to taking on much large opponents and got a crude awakening to top-grade rugby.
A lucky runaway try gave the Gropers the lead in the dying moments of the half.
With the score 12-10 it was up to the Gropers to dig deep in the second half.
Sensing Bunbury had few newer players in the backline an aggressive kicking game developed which worked in favour of the Gropers.
Making Bunbury run around the pitch paid off in the end.
The Gropers had command of the long ball and were able to apply too much pressure to the slower Bunbury squad.
This led to turnovers and finally points on the board.
The win secures the Gropers a home final for the season but they will need to work on their fundamentals to ensure they can continue their winning streak from here on out.
Captain Ben Christie said the match was their toughest of the season.
“They had a much better backline then the last time we played them,” he said.
“They also had a much bigger forward pack then us so we didn’t really get to run our game plan well.”
He attributed their training for their ability to turn the game around.
“We train more than any other team,” he said.
“We’ve been training twice a week for the whole year.
“Also the culture of the club we have grown is important.”
