Souths Juniors v Wenty Major Semi
Final Match Report

After 22 rounds of the competition Semi Final Day had arrived and we were scheduled to take on Wentworthville Magpies. The winner of this match would take on Minor Premiers The Entrance Tigers to secure entry into the Inaugural Jim Beam Cup Grand Final.

The weather was fantastic and a great crowd was on hand to witness a fantastic game of Rugby League at Leichhardt Oval.

Wentworthville got some early luck and after being smashed in a great tackle by half back Darrell Trindall they spread the ball wide and found themselves scoring out wide and taking an early 4 point lead. Back to Back penalties saw them in kicking range and they added another two points and extended their lead by 6 points to nil.

Wentworthville dominated the opening 10 minutes of the match but when we found quality possession we showed what we could do with the ball. Once again it was Half Back Darrell Trindall who set up our first try he put Lincoln Higgins into a gap who crossed for our first 4 pointer of the afternoon. When Toufic Nicholas ran from dummy half he put Darrell Trindall away for a 50m run to the try line and we extended our lead 8 points to 6.

Mat Rooke got in on the action and scored after great lead up work by our forward pack the try was converted and we had a 14 points to 6 lead. Wentworthville Magpies then hit back and our lead was cut to 4 points. On the stroke of half time five eight Joel Taufaao made Wentworthville Magpies pay for an unforced error and scored untouched from a scrum and we went into the half time break leading 20 points to 10.

A different Wentworthville Magpies team emerged in the second half scoring 18 unanswered points and took a strangle hold on the match. Our boys tried to match the opposition and did a fantastic job of it. On some occasions we were unlucky with having a try disallowed to lock forward Aaron Aitken and Wentworthville scoring the decisive try on the ?7th Tackle.?

We ended up loosing the match 32 points to 24. We now find ourselves having to win our next two matches to progress to the Grand Final of the Jim Beam Cup Competition. Gerald Symonds, Mat Rooke, Clint Cooke and half back Darrell Trindall all played fantastic games for us on the day.

The NSWRL have done some late match scheduling and we now find ourselves playing our Jim Beam Cup Elimination Semi Final against the Sydney Bulls at Western Weekender Stadium on Saturday 20th September 2003.

For further information on Souths Juniors Jim Beam Cup team or Junior League visit our website at www.southsjuniors.org.au/league. Come along and support your team Souths Juniors as they do battle in the Jim Beam Cup Competition.

Cameron O?Riordan