The Wests Scarborough Boars have recovered from their first-round loss at the hands of Cottesloe to notch two home game wins on the trot, their latest a nine-point victory over Nedlands.
It seems the arrival of the new maroon premier grade kit has lit a spark under the pig pen residents running strong lines that would strike fear into any first up defender.
Three tries on the board for Wests on Saturday, nearly four if wasn’t for the unlucky forward pass that denied Jarome Leonard-Tekanawa a dynamic counter attack try.
The match was an arm wrestle to say the least with Nedlands and Wests trading the lead in the early stages of the match.
The men in blue opened the scoring with veteran halfback Nate Roberts directing his back-line to a tee, providing space for his thirteen Teegan Minkley to step in and score.
Wests Scarborough’s back to basics approach has served them well with their catch pass skill on show without a fault leading to two reply tries lead by halfback Angus Taylor.
The dominance at scrum time for Wests continued to serve them well as Future Force star Brody Macaskill got the opportunity to show of his talent, having a hand in forcing quick penalty try for his team.
Heading into the break it was apparent that Wests had gotten the jump over Nedlands leading with a score of 21-10 however the visitors were not ready to give up on this game.
Coming out of the gate the pressure Nedlands put on was too much handle, forcing drop balls and turnovers from the home team.
Again, Teegan Minkely was on show pouncing on the turnover followed by a crafty offload to his inside centre Jackson Neilson whose step proved too good for the Scarborough fullback.
Nedlands got on the front foot and took control of the momentum, making meters Nedlands were able to stack on another try catching Wests on the back pedal with an inside pick from flanker Shane Hemi.
A quick boot from fly-half David Neilson tacked on another three points to Nedland’s lead, eager not to repeat the second half performance from round one Wests Scarborough needed to respond.
Bringing on some fresh legs the whole outlook for Wests changed as the intensity started to ramp up, turnovers were made and Wests quickly punished Nedlands for their mistakes.
As a crafty try came in from winger Darren O'Donovan it seemed apparent that Wests hand turned the tables in this match.
Wests captain Walter Koteka stepped up to the tee taking over the kicking duties from dead eye Aj Alatimu who showed a flawless performance just the night before with the Western Force, Koteka’s game reflecting as he nailed two quick penalties to build on the lead.
As the final whistle blew it was obvious that the improvement from Wests in just two weeks was dramatic, writing the wrongs of a bad first round loss only to come back to show a dominant second half performance against a formidable opponent.
With this ability to adapt and adjust so early in the season Wests Scarborough will be a team to look out in the next coming weeks as they make their climb back up the Premier Grade ladder.
