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World of Rugby League | Queensland
| Queensland
Grandstand
2000 Queensland Cup -
Preliminary Final: August 12
Redcliffe Dolphins
v
Easts Tigers
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REDCLIFFE DOLPHINS 40
Tries: George
Wilson 2, John Olzard, Adam Mogg, Robert Campbell,
Adam Starr, Craig O'Dwyer, Troy Mitchell
Goals: Damien
Richters 4
Team: 1. Adam Mogg, 2.
Trent Purdon, 3. George Wilson, 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 EASTERN SUBURBS TIGERS 6
Tries:
Paul Hubbard
Goals: John
Wilshere
Team: 1. Paul Hubbard, 2.
John Wilshere, 3. David Baildon, 4. Brooke Martin, 5.
Aseri Laing, 6. Scott Thorburn, 7. Brett McPherson, 8.
Chris Nahi, 9. George Gatis, 10. Graham Cotter, 11.
Jeff Doyle (c), 12. Des Clark, 13. Scott Sipple.
Int: 14. Matt Bickerstaff, 15. Campbell McNiven, 16.
John Edmonds, 17. Wade Liddell. Coach: Graham
Herlihy.
Venue: Dolphin Oval
Date: Saturday August 12
Referee: Tony Maksoud
Half-time: Redcliffe 16-0
Penalties: Easts 8-4
Written By: Matthew Lyne
Redcliffe advanced to the Grand Final following a very
convincing win over Easts in the preliminary final. The Dolphins were
extremely disappointing against Toowoomba and wanted
to put their knockers back in their place with a good
performance against the Tigers.
Both sides made surprise inclusions to their team line-ups
at the start of the game. Barry Denduck, who was
out injured last week, slotted in the half-back role
in the place of Michael Roberts while Matt Bickerstaff
made a return from a cheek bone injury for the Tigers
as a reserve.
Redcliffe put on the first points of the game when
John Olzard went over in the 10th minute. Tony
Gould put in a nice kick in the corner and Trent Leis
picked up the ball before passing it to Olzard who
went for the try. However, it was doubtful on
whether or not Leis knocked on the ball while trying
to pick up the ball. Tony Maksoud didn't go to
the video referee and awarded the try. Damien
Richters added the extras and the Dolphins were off to
a positive start up 6-0.
Easts had a few opportunities to score next but the Dolphins
ended up getting their second try when George
Wilson plucked the ball out of the air and put it over
the line. Gould put up another perfectly
weighted kick and it went into the awaiting arms of
Wilson. There wasn't a Easts' defender in sight
and George had no trouble scoring the try.
Richters converted the try and Redcliffe led 12-0.
The Tigers weren't taking the chances that were given
to them. They had various opportunities to go
over the line but either bombed the try or were held
out by some tremendous defence by their
opposition. On the other hand, Redcliffe were
doing the complete opposite and it
would not be long before they were in again.
Dynamic half-back Barry Denduck attacked the line
before giving a nice pass to Adam Mogg. Mogg
then dummied twice in fooling the Tigers' defence
before diving in the corner to score a great
individual try. Richters missed the conversion
but the Dolphins had scooted out to a 16-0.
There was a particularly nasty incident, just before
half-time, when Easts were on the attack in
Redcliffe's half. Bob Campbell made a tackle on
John Edmonds and, shortly later, Edmonds decked
Campbell. It was cheap and there was absolutely
nothing in the Campbell tackle that warranted a retaliation
like that. Referee Tony Maksoud gave a penalty to the
Dolphins but it really needed something more than
that.
Redcliffe went into the break with a good 16-0
lead and were looking good to advance into the Grand
Final.
Easts needed to score first to stay into the game but
were dealt a huge blow when Redcliffe scored just
minutes after the resumption of play in the second
half. Bob Campbell just simply pushed his way
through the defence and went over in the corner.
Richters kicked a wonderful sideline conversion and
the Dolphins had a comfortable 22-0 lead.
The bounce of the ball was going the way of the minor
premiers and, in the 54th minute, they virtually
wrapped up the game courtesy of George Wilson's second
try of the day. Wilson come off a pass from
James Hinchey and cracked the Tigers' line open to
score in the corner. Damien was unable to kick
the goal but Redcliffe were on their way to yet
another Grand Final, up 26-0.
Adam Starr added more woes to the depleted Easts side
when he crashed through some very tired defence and
went over the line. Starr's rather large frame
was too much for the defence to handle, 15 metres out,
and he cruised in for a simple try. Try not
converted and Redcliffe were cruising along to a very
large victory, up 30-0.
Dolphins' captain and hooker Craig O'Dwyer scored under the
posts just moments later. It was all to easy as
Craig dummied, straightened up and slammed the ball
over the line. Try converted and Redcliffe had a
36-0 lead.
The Tigers finally scored their first points of the
game when Paul Hubbard went under the sticks in the
71st minute. However, Redcliffe capped off the
day in style with a fantastic team effort try.
Luke Scott threw a flick-back pass to John Olzard who
passed it to Troy Mitchell. Mitchell made a
great run before offloading to Denduck and Barry gave
the ball back to Troy and he scored a well deserved
try. Fulltime sounded minutes later and the
Dolphins had run out very convincing 40-6 winners.
It was a complete team effort by the Dolphins.
Their defence was superb and a massive improvement from
last week. Rob Campbell, Luke Scott and James
Hinchey (who was playing his last game at Dolphin
Oval) produced the vital go-forward while Barry
Denduck, Tony Gould and Troy Mitchell all created
havoc on their opponents.
As for Easts, it just wasn't their day. Nothing
went right for them and they fell to pieces in the second
half. After defeating Burleigh, in what would
have been one of their best games of the year, Easts
saved their worst performance for last and bow out for the
season. They will learn so much from this loss
and will be back next year.
So there is one more game left and that's the Grand Final at
the home of Queensland Rugby League, Lang Park, on
Saturday. The Toowoomba Clydesdales will go in
as favourites to take out the 2000 Bundy Gold Cup but
Redcliffe will be buoyed by this victory and certainly
have the
personnel to knock over the Clydesdales. Make sure you get out to Lang
Park (game starts at 2:00pm), if you can, and watch what promises to be a
cracker of a game.
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