Round 10 - First Grade – Tenacious Whites unable to overthrow Royals
The battle of the heavyweights in the BentSpoke John I Dent Cup ended in heartbreak for the Queanbeyan Whites as they were unable to hold off a fast-finishing Canberra Royals side, going down 35-24 at Phillip Oval on Saturday.
There was plenty of anticipation going into the contest between the two sides due to all its storylines. It was the battle for the top of the table; it was the Whites chance to avenge their only defeat of the season at the hands of the Royals back in round 7. And the anticipation only grew just a few minutes from kick-off, as an injury in the warm-up to second rower Zane Marolt opened the door for replacement Brodie Preston (brother of club captain Jack Preston) to make his first-grade debut.
The stage was set for an epic encounter between two elite rugby teams, and right from the kick-off it was shown that both sides were ready to play.
The first 20 minutes was a true back-and-forth battle, with both sides trying to find a way to establish some momentum in the contest, however neither were able to post first points, as it became clear that defence was going to be a key factor for victory.
Both sides held firm, with Royals even fighting through a one-man disadvantage after Caleb Piper was yellow carded 14 minutes in, which led to Queanbeyan eventually opening the game’s scoring just a few minutes later through a Cullin Cooper-Jones penalty goal.
From there, the point scoring floodgates finally opened for both sides as fans were treated to a wave of tries throughout the rest of the first half. The Royals crossed over first, snagging a try just 90 seconds after Cooper-Jones’ penalty goal, before Koko Salim struck back for the Whites in the 30th minute, scoring his seventh try for the year. The Whites’ hopes of going into the break in front were quickly dashed when Royals scored their second try of the game in the 36th minute, giving the home side a 14-7 lead at half time.
The second half got off to a horror start for Queanbeyan as Royals quickly extended their lead to 28-10 within the first ten minutes, after they managed to score a try inside the first minute of the half before crossing over again just four minutes later.
However, the Whites managed to keep themselves in the contest off the back of some crucial tries, with Ewald Kruger crashing across in the 48th minute to cut the lead down to eleven points, before Blake Miller swooped in to steal an intercept and race away to score underneath the posts and bring the Royals lead down to 28-24 with 20 minutes remaining. Despite having some opportunities, it would prove to not be Queanbeyan’s day as the Royals scored a match sealing try in the 72nd minute to secure a 35-24 loss for the Whites.
Saturday’s loss saw the Whites receive their second defeat for the season, and their second defeat at the hands of the Royals, who now break away to hold a ten-point lead on the ladder whilst the Whites hold on to 2nd spot for the time being.
Their attention will now shift to their round 11 contest against the last placed Western District Lions as the Whites travel down to Jamison this Saturday hoping to bounce back.
Tries: Koko Salim (1), Ewald Kruger (1), Blake Miller (1) Conv: Cullin Cooper-Jones (3). Penalties: Cullin Cooper-Jones (1)
Photo: Riley Turner and Ewald Kruger (2). Jerome Freestone Photography
