Gordano U15 v St Bernadettes U15

The first home game of 2016 was hosted on a sticky Graveyard pitch in cold and damp conditions. After strong pressure from the home side playing with the wind and slope Kody Golding tapped quickly from a 5m penalty to open the scoring. Good defensive pressure led to the second try from a Leon Paul run (conv. Macie King) after he picked up in his own goal area and ran the length of the pitch to make it 12-0. A never say die attitude in defence meant pressure led to the St Bernadettes flanker knocking the ball on as he went in to score to keep up the prospect of a first clean sheet of the season.

St Bernadette's had some dangerous runners and tried to get back into the game but struggled to leave their half after fierce tackling by Gordano. All of the Sharks 15 pressured the opposition who were contained with regular rotation of the 18 player match squad. Finally a loose ball was kicked forward by Isaac Barr, followed by a controlled kick on and picked up and grounded from 5m out under pressure from the chasing defence. With another Macie King conversion the first half finished at 19-0.

St Bernadette's started the second half more strongly but the cold wet weather made handling difficult. Finally high quality passing from the Gordano backline in their own half let wing Isaac Barr take his second try (conv. Macie King) after a 40 metre run. The Sharks good decision making in attack and defence continued to determine their domination of the scoring. A great run from Sam Chigbo set up Ethan Ando for his first try of the game after strong Gordano running and passing.

The final quarter continued to be well fought by both teams. The visitors had some good attacks and began to camp in the Sharks half. However another run from their own 22 secured a final Gordano try for the long striding Sam Chigbo and a 36-0 victory. After losing to St Bernadettes in the first game of the season, the performance and result showed how well the team have developed in four months.