Butchers look sharp
Illawarra Mercury
Monday March 21, 2011
THIRROUL began their 2011 Illawarra Carlton League campaign with a clinical 32-8 win over Corrimal in wet, slippery, miserable conditions at Gibson Park on Saturday.The Butchers played in the past three grand finals, winning the premiership in 2008, and showed they will be a force again this year.Coach Phil Ostwald, back coaching the Butchers for the first time since taking them to the 2008 title, was pleased with the way his players performed against a gritty and committed Cougars line-up."It's always good to get the first one out of the way. The weather made it a little bit harder for both sides," Ostwald said."I thought our control was pretty good. We slipped away a bit towards the end of both halves."We were pretty clinical in what we did and our forwards worked really hard, which was good."So a good result for us."Congratulations to Corrimal. I thought they were enthusiastic and I hope they have a good year."While obviously disappointed with the loss, Corrimal coach Mark Cannon was encouraged with the commitment of the Cougars.They were boosted by the presence of St George Illawarra forwards Jack Bosden and Jake Marketo, who added class to a side which was missing a few players - including Ben Westblade, Andrew Emilio and Joel Taufau."We probably came up with a couple of dumb errors and we didn't complete as many sets as I would have liked," Cannon said."But really it's probably our first decent hit-out together as a team."A few things didn't work out but it was very encouraging."Some blokes put in some great performances and the two blokes we got back from the Dragons were absolutely sensational."Jake led the team around the park from No 9 and Jack was awesome, he was running hard, he created a couple of opportunities that our blokes didn't finish off."There were a couple of things that hurt us from a points point of view. I thought we were in the game, we played it quite smart but all credit to Thirroul. They were clinical, they did what they had to do."Thirroul led 6-0 after three minutes when the Cougars failed to defuse a spiralling bomb by five-eighth Mark Lennon and second-rower Aaron Beath won the chase to score for Lennon to convert.The Butchers extended their lead to 10-0 in the 17th minute when captain Brent Grose delivered the final pass to right winger Kyle Martens, who scored in the corner.Corrimal were on the score sheet with a try to right winger Josh Smith in the 25th minute, but three minutes later Butchers halfback Scott Borg scored off his own grubber kick into the in-goal and Lennon converted for a 16-4 lead at half-time.Thirroul went ahead 28-4 with unanswered tries to hard-working forward Bryce Forrest and fullback Ty McCarthy, with conversions by Lennon and Borg, before Cougars captain and lock Adam Kerr hit back with a good solo try down the short side from a 20m scrum win. Grose completed the win with a try just before full-time.ILLAWARRA CARLTON LEAGUERound 1:FIRST GRADE:Helensburgh 12 (James Newman 2, Jason Rapertries) def Shellharbour 8 (Aaron Carney 2 tries).Thirroul 32 (Kyle Martens, Scott Borg, Aaron Beath,Bryce Forrest,Ty McCarthy, Brent Grose tries, MarkLennon 3, Scott Borg goals) def Corrimal 8 (JoshSmith, Adam Kerr tries).Berkeley 24 (Ivan Aluni, Kaine Edwards, RobbiePayne, Daniel Penese tries, Mark Simon 3, LochlanRussell goals) def Collegians 12 (Olireti Samuele,Sharlon Taki tries, Jarryd Hogan 2 goals).Wests v UOW DeferredDapto Bye
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