St.George Retain Helping Hand Cup

The St.George Dragons All-Stars have retained the `Joanne Mackay Helping Hand Cup' by defeating the USA 48-40 at Kogarah lastnight(18/02/04). As the score indicates, the match was a free-flowing affair with a number of entertaining tries.

St.George crossed for 9 tries with the most spectacular being Anthony Mundine's four-pointer in the third quarter from a well-directed chip kick. Mundine came close to scoring on a number of other occasions but was closely guarded by the Tomahawks' defence.

Jeff Hardy and Scott Gourley both scored 2 tries each, while Mark Coyne, Noel Goldthorpe, Ricky Walford and Brad Mackay also notched four-pointers for the Dragons.

The USA Tomahawks put in 100% effort and did well to fight back from a large deficit in the 2nd quarter. They have clearly improved over the last year when they were defeated 42-18 by the Dragons All-Stars. The match concludes a successful tour for the Tomahawks who also had fixtures against Wyong, Goulburn, Tonga and the Canberra Raiders. During the tour, the Tomahawks kindly assisted the St.George juniors, when David Niu arranged for his team to visit the Kogarah Cougars for a skills session at Blakehurst's Todd Park.

Jeff Hardy, David Niu and Mark Coyne should be congratulated for organising the match for such a worthy cause. All proceeds will be donated to the Joanne Mackay Breast Cancer Foundation which "provides help to breast cancer patients in their day to daylives by providing financial and emotional help."

While the attendance was slightly down on last year, David Niu stated that the match was a financial success for the Foundation. The sponsors included the St.George Leagues Club, St.George-Illawarra Dragons RLFC, National Lending Group, E Group Security, Elite Sportswear, Child Friendly Solutions, Wicked Candles, Neil'sGlass Service, Darren Richards, Huxbury & Associates and Crown Signs.

The match should become an annual fixture at Kogarah if the Tomahawks are invited to the Sevens each year.

R2K would like to thank the following supporters for helping to promote the St.George vs USA match on Saturday night prior to the Charity Shield:

John Ormsby, John Butler, Alena Hill, Erin Ormsby, Hugh Drummond, Eleanor Ormsby and Jeanette McLean.