Associates have handed Nedlands their first defeat of the 2012 Pindan Premier Grade season after producing a stunning comeback in the Match of the Round to record a 23-25 victory on Saturday afternoon.
It was a tale of two halves as Neddies went into the sheds at half-time with what seemed a match-winning 23-3 lead over the visitors, courtesy of 13 points from the boot of sharp-shooter Michael Botes and two Cameron Crowley tries.
However, the second half saw a dramatic turnaround as the visitors scored three tries in the opening 10 minutes before Kyle Goodwin converted the winning points with five minutes to play after a Peter De Toit try tied the contest at 23-23.
Associates coach Andy Cole was delighted at his sides dramatic comeback, but was quick to praise Nedlands on their efforts.
“Obviously it’s fantastic to come to the Foreshore and defeat Nedlands, especially after coming back from 20 points down at half-time,” he said.
“Nedlands were fantastic in the first half and you never get any easy games at the Foreshore, so that
is a credit to them.
“We were very loose in the first half and they punished our mistakes going in with a big lead at half-time but in saying that, I was delighted with the way the players responded to my half-time address and come out like a new side.”
Cole said his half-time speech was positive rather than giving the players a telling-off for their efforts.
“We knew we had to take them on and we were a lot more precise with our passing and general structure,” Cole continued.
“We are hoping to continue the form into next week against Rockingham, who are themselves a very good side.
“The competition is tight, but I am delighted we have managed to win today after our fantastic comeback,” Cole concluded.
Nedlands coach Tony Ball was understandably frustrated that his side could not finish the game after leading by such a large score at the break.
“We were disappointed to lose as we should have shut the game off after half-time,” Ball said.
“All credit must go to Soaks as they came back and performed really well in the second half.
“I’m not sure what happened in the second half, it’s something I will need to address during the week, but all I can say is Soaks were the better team in the second forty minutes.”
Nedlands regained six players from injury this week, but Ball believes they could be losing another three players after today’s tough loss.
“We had six back this week, but I think we have lost a few as well, so it’s a bit like one step forward and two steps back,” he continued.
“I’m not sure if we will be getting anymore of the players still coming back from injury so it’s a bit of a waiting game.
“It’s obviously been a disappointing day, but we have lost by two points against the second top side, so I have confidence my players will be back in the winner’s circle come next Saturday.”
The opening stanza consisted of bone crunching tackles and ill-discipline as both teams struggled for early possession with the only points of interest coming in the opening 30 minutes through the boot of Michael Botes of Nedlands and Matt Dreyer of the visitors.
The hosts’ sharp shooter, Botes, converted his three penalty attempts; while Dreyer also converted his single penalty attempt to give Nedlands a 9-3 lead with 10 minutes to play before the break.
Nedlands started to take hold of the contest and were rewarded with two tries in as many minutes before the break, both through Cameron Crowley.
The first came after Botes played a quick pass from the break-down to Jake Stevens, who jinxed his way past an Associates player, before playing a pass to Crowley who in turn downed the ball under the posts.
Crowley’s second came after a string of successive passes from Ryan Mcloud and Saul Chase saw him power past two last ditch tackles to score. Botes converted both conversion attempts to give the hosts a 23-3 lead at the break.
Associates responded after the break in stunning fashion and scored three tries in the opening 10 minutes to cut Neddies lead back to five points.
The first came 40 seconds into the half courtesy of a clever chip from De Toit that split the Nedlands defence as Angus Cottrell downed the ball in the corner.
The second try came three minutes later after De Toit played a quick pass to Neville Halberg who managed to avoid a last ditch Nedlands tackler before diving and downing the ball in the corner.
The third came after Nigel Genia picked up the loose ball at the breakdown before running 20 metres to try uncontested to give the visitors an avenue back into the contest. Unfortunately for the visitors Dreyer could not add the extras from any of the tries to give Nedlands a 23-18 lead.
Nedlands were astounded by the visitors stunning start to the second half and were given the opportunity courtesy of Soaks ill-discipline at the break-down to extend their lead.
Botes unfortunately sent his penalty attempt wide as Nedlands remained with a five point lead with 20 minutes to play.
With five minutes on the clock the visitors scored their fourth try of the day to secure a bonus point, and ultimately victory to hand Nedlands their first defeat of 2012.
De Toit was starring for Soaks and it was no surprise when he intercepted a Nedlands pass from the scrum to run uncontested before downing the ball under the posts to level the scores. Kyle Goodwin scored the easy conversion to give Soaks the two point lead.
Despite a gallant last ditch effort from Nedlands to win the match that consisted of 23 phases, the hosts could not get the points needed to win the match.