2013 WARL Premiership
Saturday April 13, 2013 – Round 4
Sea Eagles Survive Scare
After holding a comfortable lead for most of the game North Beach Sea Eagles were swamped in the final 8 minutes by South Perth Lions just getting home with a 22 to 20 win.
They held an 18 to 4 lead at the half time break and put the score out to 22 to 4 in the first five minutes of the second.
The Lions who scored first early in the game did not look like breaking through for over 60 minutes till they scored their second try with eight minutes on the clock, followed up with another at three minutes to go and finally just before the bell went over the line again to bring them within 2 points.
Ryan Wilson who had the opportunity to convert his own try to for an unlikely draw, missed to the right in a thrilling final few minutes for the home crowd.
The game was hard fought as you would expect from these two proud clubs, but it was marred with many ball handling errors from both sides, constantly changing the flow of the game in the second half.
“The first half was a vast improvement on last week, but we are still struggling at different times of the game. We hung in tough at the end and I am happy that we are improving”, said Sea Eagles coach Ryan Gundry.
“We were given a lesson by a good footy side in the middle of the field”, reflected Nathan Johnson, coach of South Perth after the game. “I am not disappointed with the effort of the side, and believe we will give a lot more teams a run for the full 80 minutes like today”.
Best players were Taurean Sheehan and Mick Kestel for North Beach and Wilson and Brandon Timlin for South Perth.
Rockingham Sharks fought hard to shake off Joondalup Giants drawing away in the end to win 28 to 16. They got away to a 12 nil lead early, but the improving Giants clawed back to level the score at half time.
Both sides scored in the first twenty minutes of the second half, but the experience of Rockingham held sway in the end scoring two tries in the final 10 minutes of the game.
The Sharks best were Luke Faulkner and Reece Potter with Clint Fraser and Nathan Searle for the Giants.
Willagee Bears continue their turn around with their second win of the season from three games beating Kalamunda Bulldogs 34 to 18. The Bears are playing a good brand of football but made a few mistakes which let the winless Bulldogs into the game.
Rhys Pickman and Joel David were the better players for the Bears.
WARL Premiership Ladder
Team | Played | Won | Lost | Draw | +/- | Points |
North Beach Sea Eagles | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | +6 | 6 |
Fremantle Roosters | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | +64 | 4 |
Willagee Bears | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | +50 | 4 |
South Perth Lions | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | +14 | 4 |
Rockingham Sharks | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | -10 | 4 |
Joondalup Giants | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | -52 | 2 |
Kalamunda Bulldogs | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | -72 | 0 |
Game Results
First Grade
North Beach Sea Eagles 22 – South Perth Lions 20
Rockingham Sharks 28 – Joondalup Giants 16
Willagee Bears 34 – Kalamunda Bulldogs 18
BYE Fremantle Roosters
Premier Grade
North Beach Sea Eagles 34 – South Perth Lions 8
Rockingham Sharks 14 – Joondalup Giants 12
Willagee Bears 26 – Kalamunda Bulldogs 16
Fremantle Roosters 52 – South West Warriors 10
Under 18
South Perth Lions 39 – North Beach Sea Eagles 14
Rockingham Sharks 44 – Joondalup Giants 10
Kalamunda Bulldogs 22 – Willagee Bears 12
LeagueTag
South Perth Lions 14 – North Beach Sea Eagles 6
Joondalup Giants 12 – Rockingham Sharks 4
Kalamunda Bulldogs 24 – Willagee Bears 6
Fremantle Roosters 56 – South West Warriors 0