9 June 2007 By Graham Croker
Driving rain, gusting southerly winds and a greasy Chatswood Oval surface turned Saturday’s Shute Shield fixture into a war of wills, with Sydney University eking out a 22-17 win over Gordon to stay at the competition helm.
Running with the wind in the first half, the Students dominated territorially and scored three tries to lead 19-nil at the break. Running with the wind in the second half, Gordon followed the script, scored three tries and trailed 19-17 with a minute to go, when University utility back, Daniel Halanaghu, landed a penalty goal to put an end to proceedings.
Indeed, it came down to the goal-kicking of Halangahu to separate the two teams. He converted two tries from difficult positions and his penalty goal was from almost 40-metres out. On the other side of the ledger, Gordon skipper and five-eighth David Harvey landed one conversion, missed another “kickable” attempt that would have levelled the scores and was also astray with two vital penalty goal attempts - one from in front - that would have given his side the lead with 10 minutes to play.
The Students set the pattern for the afternoon in the first 10 minutes, with two excellent touch-finders from five-eighth Dan Kelly putting his side in the red zone. After a three-phase assault from a lineout, Kelly attacked the blindside and sent centre Sanualio Afeaki over in the corner. Halangahu’s conversion from the sideline was to prove critical.
Another Kelly touchfinder to the Gordon quarter allowed the Students to mount another attack. A strong run from inside-centre Tom Carter and quick phase ball allowed fullback Halangahu to loom up on the left, grubber kick behind the defence and watch winger Peter Playford touch down in the corner. The Students led 12-nil after 10 minutes but they were to wait until the 37th minute before they posted more points.
Operating on the back of another Carter bust, Halangahu and winger Lachlan Mitchell combined to send Playford over for his second try. Another sideline conversion from Halangahu pushed the score to 19-nil.
The hosts came out firing in the second spell. Having tried to move the ball wide to make territory in the first session, they reverted to a kicking game with the wind behind them and they camped in the University quarter for long periods.
However, it wasn’t until the 55th minute before the University defensive line cracked when fullback Mark Preston touched down off a Harvey grubber kick.
Four successive penalties kept the hosts in the University quarter, and a quickly taken tap saw replacement flanker Paul Tuala score adjacent to the uprights for Harvey to convert into a 19-12 scoreline.
With captain Tim Davidson off – courtesy of a yellow card – the University defence was again stretched by a Harvey grubber. And, once again, it was the speedy Preston who won the race for the ball to score in the corner. At 19-17, with the wind behind them and all of the play taking place in the University quarter, the hosts seemed destined to take out the inaugural Steve Cutler-Dick Tooth trophy celebrating 70 years of competition between the two clubs.
But it was the Students who surged in the final minutes and when they crossed halfway for one of the few times in the half, the forwards executed a long-distance rolling maul that eventually saw Playford emerge with the ball and almost score his third.
Having set up camp in the Gordon half, it was left for Halangahu to finish things off with a penalty goal.
Despite some wayward kicking and dropped ball, the match remained gripping for a number of reasons, one being the closeness of the scores as the hosts fought back. Another being the execution of wet weather tactics - after years of drought – coinciding with the introduction of the Stellenbosch rules that have encouraged running rugby.
The Gordon backs attempted to run the ball when facing the wind, and they caused some headaches. They kicked in the second half and caused some more. Some of the young University backs – the average age of the side is 21 – struggled to come to terms with the conditions, particularly in the second half, and took some costly options.
As University coach Damien Hill rued: “We took some dreadful options trying to get out of our 22. It was a big learning experience. The wind played a big part and we have to learn to play with it.”
Hill said Halangahu was moved to five-eighth in the second half “on the score of experience” running into the wind.
Both packs battled manfully, with Gordon losing second-rower Jared Barry for 10 minutes on a yellow card in the first half, the Students losing Davidson for 10 in the second half.
The inclement weather caused all lower grade and Colts matches to be called off and rescheduled to another date.
The Students will host second-place Eastern Suburbs next Saturday in the match of the round.
Footnote: Only diehard supporters turned out in the dreadful conditions at Chatswood Oval on Saturday. Among them were former SUFC First Graders Drew Hickey and Ben Daly, back in Australia for a few days after completing another season in England. What a loss it was for the University and NSW when they were overlooked by the Waratahs.