The Award Winning Mighty Jabiru Bushratz Team of 2008
Latest News August 9 2010
Hi all,
The final Jabiru home game of the year played out like a fairy tale on the weekend, with the rampaging Casuarina Cougars travelling out from the city.
Cas has had a ordinary season to date, with their last chance to play finals football snuffed out by the Mighty Ratz in our last meeting. However they had a handful of A grade players who were returning from injury and would be using the game as a testing board for their return to the top grade.
The game started out at a massive pace, and the recent early build up took it’s toll early with many players gasping for breath on the run out to the middle. However the Ratz managed to control things early for a while and a quick penalty 10 metres out from the Cougars line saw yours truly belly flop over the line for a 5 pointer. Tyrone bounced the kick off the upright and we stayed at 5-0.
Cougars were not prepared to stay down for long and within a few minutes replied with their own 5 pointer which they also failed to convert. The pace picked up even further with the Cougars trying everything but they were unable to get through the solid defence of the Jabiru boys. The scrum had improved over recent weeks and the crowd got to witness some great tight-head wins by the Bushratz front 3.
The Ratz crossed late in the half to go into the break 12-5 up but we were starting to struggle with a bit of fitness and a few injuries that had started to appear. The Cougars came out firing in the second and quickly crossed to even up the score. The Ratz replied and from then the game see-sawed until the Cougars were sitting with a comfortable 24-17 lead with the final play called by the referee.
What they didn’t expect was a little touch of magic from a rarely seen Hank Cooper. A one handed scoop, chip and gather and a 60 metre dash to the line saw him cross under the bar, giving Tyrone the easiest kick and the game a 24-24 much deserved draw. Given the effort from both teams it was a suitable result.
The 2 points for the win, coupled with a 4 try bonus point puts the Bushratz up on 53 points, but the Dragons copped a loss to Souths and stay on 46, and Uni’s hiding of Swampdogs sees them sneak to 1 point ahead of the Dragons and relegating them to 4th. South’s move to 41 points and are a win away from knocking the Dragons out of the finals altogether.
However we still have 2 rounds to play, and next week will have us up against South Darwin in Darwin, who need every game with the bonus point to get to the finals. The game kicks off at Austar Park Ground 2 at 5pm (I checked the NTRU website and that is the time. Honest this is the real one!!) After that we will have Dragons who should pick up a comfortable win against the Swampdogs next week.
To say the competition is anyone’s at the moment is a safe bet, and we will need every single Bushratz player to dig deep and attend training if we want to bring this trophy out here in September.
Training is tonight (Monday) and Thursday from around 6:30 and will be focussing on our ball skills and ruck work.
Cheers
Turtle