The Margaret River Gropers hosted the Bunbury Bulls on Saturday in the second Reef and Beef round for the season.
The undefeated Gropers were a bit undermanned but once again managed to scrape together a full side,with the addition of local young gun DR Brink and debutant James Doherty.
Bunbury arrived with a strong outfit and were out to continue the momentum they’d recently built up. The Gropers were set for the ambush that they believed was coming.
The Gropers were lacklustre in their warmup and Bunbury were seemingly firing on all cylinders and there were some nerves before the game for the men in black.
The opening half was as impressive as it was unexpected. The Gropers came out with all guns blazing. It was some of the best rugby they’d played all year.
The forwards were hitting the ball up strongly in pods, the centers were crashing hard and offloading.
They cleaned out well at the breakdown and halfback Tim Fearon enjoyed the platform provided, firing the ball out to the outside backs , who had room to move and pace to burn.
Seven tries to 0 in the first half set the stage for the Gropers to whet their appetites with some tasty Bunbury beef.
As always the Gropers viewed the score as “nil all” at the break and were eager to continue the bbq into the 2nd half. The Bulls were given a serve at halftime by their Captain, Coach and President.
The Gropers were given some timely pointers at half time to keep the foot on the throat and do not let them score.
Unfortunately the Bulls did gain some momentum in the second half.
Mainly due to some ill-discipline from the Gropers that resulted in a 37-9 penalty count against them, they eventually bustled their way over for an unconverted try.
In the end the Gropers remain unbeaten with an emphatic 68-5 victory. Emile Takahashi-Curti topped a phenomenal performance with a great try earning Best Forward.
Dom Carlsen had massive boots to fill at outside center with the absence of captain Sam Henry and did so brilliantly earning Best Back. Glenn Giles played arguably his best game ever at Number 8.
He stole the ball at the breakdown, made plenty of barn-storming runs and put on some huge tackles to earn Man of the Match.
Acting Captain Simon Earl was all over park and his resounding speech to both team after the game will never be forgotten.
