The Margaret River Gropers travelled to Busselton to challenge the Dungbeetles on Saturday.
While the Gropers are thankful for their counterparts keeping their Championship Shield safe for the year, it was almost time for the parents to come home and send them away with their pocket money for babysitting duties.
It was the first time the Gropers had played Dunsborough/Busselton/(Capel???) at their new multi-million dollar revamped clubrooms on the foreshore, and the home team was eager to put up a strong showing.
Like an adolescent child that refuses to go to bed, they put up an almighty tantrum.
The Gropers were on the back foot from the outset and had to weather a tirade of pressure from the home side.
However, the Gropers were out to prove that money can't buy courage and resilience.
Like a Lighthouse in a hurricane, the waves kept coming but the light kept shining.
Their defence was unbelievable and they managed to thwart many genuine opportunities from their rivals.
Playing on a field not much wider than a cricket pitch this was never going to complement their wide attacking style.
They had many chances to score but the sidelines seemed to retract and the backs simply ran out of space.
The Dunsborough line speed was fantastic and thwarted many attempts.
In came the forwards.
For the better part of a decade, apart from a few rare seasons, the Gropers have been bullied in the tight five.
The pack absolutely dominated their counterparts at scrum time, completely demolishing the opposing scrum, which eventually led to Captain Sam Henry picking the leftovers off their plates and getting an easy meal.
He scored in the corner to put the Gropers up 5-0 at half time.
With some food in his stomach he read a perfectly placed kick to restart the half from Cory Bridge.
It was like a fast-food drive-through the way he gathered the kick and scored with barely 20 seconds on the clock.
Like a fisherman throwing burley into the water, all of the Gropers came to feed.
The backs grew an extra set of fins and began to break the line.
Despite spitting out the bait on four attempts, they eventually crossed another three times.
The sideline looked like a war zone, and despite several injuries on the Gropers side, it was clear by the amount of bandaged bodies on the Dungas' bench that this war of attrition was dominated physically by the Gropers.
The Beetles never gave up and bombarded the try line time and time again, to try and add some respect to the scoreboard.
Some heroic defence across the board stopped them on every occasion, and they were left holding nothing but an empty scorecard pondering life in an increasingly intense battle for the minor places as the Gropers sit well and truly on top of the table half way through the season.
The Gropers walked away with the victory with a score of 31-0.
The Gropers are hoping to rub more salt into their wounds this Saturday with a blockbuster night game on the Main Oval at 6pm.
Anyone who is interested in being involved in any capacity should contact Viv Booker on 0439 959 969 or visit www.facebook.com/MRGropersRugbyClub/
