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World of Rugby League | Queensland
| Queensland
Grandstand
2000 Queensland Cup -
Grand Final: August 19
Redcliffe Dolphins
v
Toowoomba Clydesdales
|
REDCLIFFE DOLPHINS 14
Tries: Trent
Leis, Troy Lindsay, Craig O'Dwyer
Goals: Damien
Richters
Team: 1. Adam Mogg, 2. George Wilson, 3.
John Olzard, 4. Damien Richters, 5.
Trent Leis, 6. Tony Gould, 7. Barry Denduck, 8. Robert
Campbell, 9. Craig O'Dwyer (c), 10. Troy
Lindsay, 11. Luke Scott, 12. James Hinchey, 13. Danny
Bourke. Int: 14. Troy Mitchell, 15. Russell Lahiff, 16.
Grant Flugge, 17. Adam Starr. Coach:
Neil Wharton.
defeated TOOWOOMBA CLYDESDALES 6
Tries: Justin
Hodges
Goals: Paul
Warwick
Team: 1.
Justin Hodges, 2. Adam Warwick, 3. Brent Tate, 4. Alex
Wilson, 5. Chris Walker, 6. Paul Warwick, 7. Jace Van
Dijk, 8. Corey Parker, 9. Michael Ryan, 10. Damon
Keating (c), 11. Darren Mapp, 12. Neale Wyatt,
13. Darren Ingram. Int: 14. Kerrod Walters, 15. Nathan
Friend, 16. Carl Webb, 17. Dennis White.
Coach: Ivan Henjak.
Venue: Suncorp Metway Stadium
Date: Saturday August 19
Referee: Tony Maksoud
Crowd: 7 280
Half-time: Redcliffe 10-6
Penalties: Redcliffe 7-6
Scrums: Toowoomba 8-6
When They Scored
16 min: Redcliffe 4-0 (Trent Leis try)
21 min: Redcliffe 10-0 (Troy Lindsay try;
Damien Richters goal)
40 min: Redcliffe 10-6 (Justin Hodges try; Paul
Warwick goal)
45 min: Redcliffe 14-6 (Craig O'Dwyer try)
Written by: Matthew Lyne
This was it!! After 137 games of football, it all
came down to two sides to see who would take out this
year's Bundy Gold Cup: Toowoomba Clydesdales and
Redcliffe Dolphins. A smallish but enthusiastic crowd of 7
280 (according to the QRL, which I have my doubts on)
turned up to the home of the Queensland Rugby League
to watch the day's action. It's a shame the game
couldn't attract a larger crowd but, given the lack of promotion in the
Brisbane media during the week and the fact that ABC
were broadcasting the game live through-out
Queensland, it was probably as big as it was going to
get.
The day kicked off with the final of ARL
Foundation Cup for primary schools between Bundaberg
North and St Mary's Toowoomba. There were some
fantastic skills being shown by the youngsters and St
Mary's narrowly got home winners over the boys from
Bundy, 12-10. Norths took
out the Quest Classified Colts title with a convincing
32-14 win over Wests while Easts proved to be too good
for Logan to claim the A Grade premiership for 2000.
Toowoomba went into the game as raging hot
favourites. The Clydesdales' had been in
fantastic form and it saw them comprehensively defeat Burleigh, Easts and
Redcliffe in the past 3 games. Their most recent clash saw them give
final's opponents Redcliffe a tremendous
hiding.
Redcliffe were looking for revenge on that 34 point
humiliation dished out to them and,
other than the major semi-final, have defeated Toowoomba
twice this year. A crushing win, last week, over
Easts had restored confidence in the Dolphins and were
a chance of knocking off the Clydesdales.
Toowoomba were the best attacking side in the
competition all year and Redcliffe would need their
defence to be as it's very best.
The first 15 minutes of the match proved to be played
in true grand final fashion.
Both sides were not willing to give their opposition
any room for movement with defence being the key
component. Mistake free football was being
played and it looked like both sides were ready to
play. It was also
clear that, from the outset,
that Redcliffe were going to slow down the
Clydesdales' play-the-ball.
The Dolphins were the first side to get on the
scoreboard after Trent Leis went in for an easy try. Rob
Campbell surged towards Toowoomba's try line and was
put down short by the defence. A long pass was thrown
to Tony
Gould, who then gave it to Barry Denduck. Seeing
a gaping hole out on the right, Barry put a pass to centre
Olzard and he gave it to an unmarked Leis, who went
over the line for the try. Damien Richters
missed the conversion but Redcliffe were off to a good
start up 4-0.
Bustling prop Troy Lindsay put Redcliffe further ahead
after he crashed over the line, near the posts,
in the 21st minute. The Dolphins got a penalty
and found themselves in Clydesdales' territory.
After a few movements, Lindsay saw a gap in the
defence and barged his way through and dragged a few
defenders over the try line to score the try.
Richters converted the try and the Dolphins had got
off to the start they needed, leading 10-0.
The Clydesdales were never able to get into some rhythm
for most of the half. The Dolphins' tough,
grinding defence was proving to be a rather difficult obstacle
to overcome. Compounding this, they were simply
making too many unforced errors and never really gave them a
chance to strike back. In fact, one of those
errors nearly led to a Redcliffe try in the 29th
minute.
The Dolphins put in a kick that went into Toowoomba's in goal
area. Dennis White fumbled the ball before
stupidly throwing it backwards, hoping one of his
players would pick it up. Incoming Redcliffe halfback Barry Denduck pounced on the ball and a try
looked to have been scored. However, Tony
Maksoud went the video referee and it was ruled that
White had put his foot on the dead line, thus a line
goal drop-out resulted. A close call for
Toowoomba and it could have made things much more
difficult for them.
Justin Hodges put his side back in
the game when he scored a great individual try right
on fulltime. Paul Warwick put a pass to Hodges
who dodged and weaved his way through a few Redcliffe
defenders to go under the posts for the try.
Paul Warwick had no trouble adding the extras and Toowoomba
had got the break they very much needed. At half-time,
Redcliffe were up 10-6 but the game was very much
hanging in the balance.
Craig O'Dwyer got the Dolphins off to a good start in
the second half when he dived over the line from dummy
half. The opportunity came from a Justin Hodges'
knock-on in their own half and the Dolphins were given
a good chance. Captain and hooker O'Dwyer then
attacked at the defensive line, dummied and burrowed
down low to score the try. Try not converted and
Redcliffe had a 14-6 lead.
The Clydesdales tried so desperately to claw back into
the game but it was clear the bounce of the ball
wasn't going their way. Several opportunities
went to ground included a one from centre Alex
Wilson. An unmarked Wilson was given a pass but
he put the ball down with the line wide open. It
happened half-way during the second half and, had the
try been scored, the outcome of the game could have
been so different.
The rest of the half never amounted into much.
Toowoomba never looked liked scoring at all and when Jace Van
Dijk knocked on the ball, the game was
Redcliffe's. Full time sounded shortly after and
the Dolphins were 2000 Bundy Gold Cup premiership
holders.
Congratulations go to Redcliffe for securing their
second Queensland Cup/Bundy Gold Cup
premiership. They were deserved winners and
simply outplayed their opponents on the day.
Everyone had written off the Dolphins after that
devastating loss, two weeks ago, but it was a much
more determined side who came out on Saturday.
Their defence laid the foundation for the victory with
Rob Campbell, Craig O'Dwyer, Troy Lindsay, Luke Scott
and Adam Starr all figuring in some fashion.
Adam Mogg had a very good game at fullback which saw
he desperately get out of the in goal twice in the
second half while Denduck, Richters and Gould all had good
games. Last, but not least, coach Neil
Wharton must get all the credit for fine tuning this
side into a winner. Wharton has had to deal with
the large turnover of players in 1999 and many
injuries during the season, so it a tremendous effort
by Neil and the coaching staff at Redcliffe. How he did not win
coach of the year at the BRL awards is quite
astounding.
It was a fairytale ending for both James Hinchey and
Rob Campbell. Both players are hanging up the
boots (well, Campbell still has the World Cup to go) at the
end of the season and it was a fitting end to two
players who have had good careers with the various
clubs they had played at. Campbell had been
terrific this year and it is a shame that 'Russian'
Bob is calling it quits at the end of the year. Farewell
to these two players.
As for Toowoomba, inexperience let them down in the
end. They could not any rhythm going and were
never allowed to get into the game due to the tough
Redcliffe defence. Too many unforced errors, an atrocious
kicking game and some their players being too
individualistic at times cost the Clydesdales
dearly. Justin Hodges was the standout player on
the team and looked threatening every time he touched
the ball. Carl Webb and Corey Parker posed a few
questions to the Redcliffe defence but were really never
backed by the rest of their team mates.
Well, that's about wraps up the Bundy Gold Cup season
for this year. The competition has been another
success and. Can Redcliffe successfully defend their
premiership in 2001 or will Toowoomba make amends? Will Easts, Burleigh or Norths
bounce back from disappointing exits? Can the
Logan Scorpions make the semi-finals for the first
time in history? I guess we shall have to wait
until next year. Stayed tuned to this site for
any details on next year's competition and draw.
Grand Final Day in Pictures.
(Thanks go to Jon Sloan for these pictures)
CONGRATULATIONS
TO REDCLIFFE
2000 BUNDY GOLD CUP PREMIERS
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