WHITES ENTER ‘MUST WIN’ TERRITORY
The Whites season sits on a knife’s edge after last weeks loss to Unis meaning the Whites must win this week’s last home clash against Wests before the final round the following week being an away trip to Phillip to take on Royals. The Royals game will be the furthest thing from anyone’s thoughts as the visiting Wests Lions will be a tough nut to crack, buoyed by a last start victory over the top of the table Vikings. That win now leaves the Whites 6 points adrift of 4th spot with Wests to face Unis in the final round.
The Whites were right in the game at the main break with scores locked at 17 apiece. Unis controlled the match expertly for most of the 2nd stanza and never really gave the locals a sniff in what the Unis Coach called his team’s best 80-minute effort of the season. The good news for the Whites was that 2nd, 3rd, 4th grades and Colts all tasted success to almost guarantee finals appearances commencing in a few weeks’ time.
1st grade coach Sam French welcomed back newly contracted Brumbies prop Fred Kaihea on Saturday and he will be hoping that now having that first run under his belt will prime him for longer minutes this weekend. He’ll also be sweating on the fitness of lock Zane Marolt who missed the Unis match, but he also has plenty of talent at his disposal to fill the void if required. The physicality for the Unis game was felt by both sides and this weekend will be just as physical against a Wests side with the luxury of a handful of Brumbies players to call on.
This weekend will also be a special day on the back of another successful Ladies Day with the Whites charity of choice ‘ WIN THE DAY’ being the beneficiaries of the fundraising events over the course of the day. The Whites will be wearing a fantastic and colourful strip sporting the ‘WIN THE DAY’ colours with the jerseys to be auctioned at the post game function back at Walsh’s Hotel from 6pm. ‘WIN THE DAY’ is a charity set up by Kristy Giteau and Soakai Tai and is an Australian-based, public, not-for-profit charity formed from the families own experience of dealing with rare childhood cancer. The charity aims to raise awareness and support the funding of research related to rare childhood cancers, as well as financially support families with accommodation, meals, and ongoing treatment grants. Tai is currently plying his skills across 4th, 3rd and 2nd grade and is a former multiple Macdougall Medallist as the best player in the John I Dent Cup.
Along with the rugby action across both fields, the Club will also be having ‘The Gecko Gang’ entertain kids of all ages from 1pm with a jumping castle and face painting. There will be plenty of other activities happening so make a day of it as the Whites look to celebrate the final home game for the season with full canteen facilities available throughout the day and the post-match event back at Walsh’s.
