Men’s Combined Affiliated States & Territories Championships
WA 52 SA 4
BY PETER ROWE
By PETER ROWE
A solid first half performance from WA helped set up a 52-4 victory over South Australia on Day Two of the CAST championships in Melbourne.
With a strong wind continuing to have an effect on play, the Black and Golds got off to a great start as North Beach’s Roydon Gillett crossed after just one minute.
“Delane and I were very happy with the first half,” assistant coach Ryan Foster said.
“We stuck to our structures, the middles were fantastic and edge forward Derek Chizuni was probably our best on field. His work rate with the ball and off it was phenomenal.”
Six minutes after that first try Gillett found the whitewash again as Willagee’s Tamaho Tierney kicked the extras to give WA an early 10- 0 lead.
The scoring continued throughout the first half, with South Perth centre Corbyn Daniels the next to score, strolling over on the back of a penalty, with Tierney adding two more from his kick.
WA’s forwards were running at will through the middle and Rockingham’s Chris Siddons was halted a metre short, but Willagee’s Emmanuel Malikjo was unstoppable on the next play, crashing over as the one-way traffic continued.
With good support runners, WA’s forwards set the platform, controlling play through South Perth hooker Jayden Evans, with Bailey Millar a danger coming out of the back.
It took South Australia over 20 minutes to offer a real chance, but WA stood firm in defence, and from a high tackle penalty on Siddons, the impressive Daniels was too strong down the edge to set up Manfred Kelly to score.
“We switched off a bit in the second half,” Foster conceded.
The relentless attack continued and South Perth winger Meli Arthur finished the first half, crossing in the corner.
Millar found oceans of space down the left flank to add another try after the restart, then halfback North Beach halfback Jeremy Wallace increased the score further.
South Australia didn’t give up – and should be complimented on their never-say-die effort – but it was WA to score again, this time down the right edge as Daniels set up Kelly to race in under the posts.
The South Australians scored a consolation try with ten minutes left in the game as WA rotated players and when Millar copped a late hit after a kick, the North Beach winger picked himself up to score the final try of the day, kicking a grubber kick across the try line and chasing it down to finish day two with a comprehensive win to set up a showdown with Victoria tomorrow.
“We got the job done, everyone’s happy and we look forward to meeting Victoria tomorrow,” Foster said.
The Victorians were made to fight for their 36-16 win over NT in the final game of day two, with the WA clash now the championship decider.
