THE typical scorelines for Hawkesbury rugby were reversed this week as Hawkesbury Valley thrashed Oatley and Hawkesbury Ag College were good enough to beat Brothers in first grade.
In NSW Suburban Rugby Union’s third division, Hawkesbury Valley emerged clear winners beating Oatley 73-5, while Ag College won 24-5.
It was the second smallest margin Ag College’s first grade has racked up this season, while the win was only Hawkesbury Valley’s third of the season.
Ag college coach Kristian Berghofer said Brothers put up a good fight, and had excellent scrambling defence.
“We had a tough game in first, they're a very physical team, so it was good to match physicality with them,” he said.
“We're the team everyone wants to beat so every team that plays us are up for the contest.
“We didn't have an off game, we still played really well but they also played well. It was good to have a tough battle.”
Berghofer said second rower Mitch Hardy had an excellent game for the team.
“He brought a lot of physicality and in the set piece and the line out he was unstoppable,” he said.
Berghofer added that Matt Breuer, Matt Borg and Ryan James had been selected for the NSW Suburban Rugby Union representative team.
Hawkesbury Valley’s win came against a weakened Oatley team.
Valley coach Paul Clancy said he thought most of Oatley’s first grade team had already played one match earlier in the day.
“We can only play the guys who come up against us,” he said.
“I thought we played really well in patches then switched off in patches. It wasn't a complete 80 minute performance but it was a good win nonetheless.”
Clancy said after a frantic start by his team, it was nice to see them settle down in the second half and stick to the game plan.
Valley awarded a second rower man of the match too, with Jesse Wilson earning the praise of his team mates.
“Jesse had a blinder. He carried the ball strongly, always made metres when he took hit ups and just had a good game,” Clancy said.
Hawkesbury Ag College won all four grades, while Hawkesbury Valley’s second grade team also won.
This week, Ag College travels to Beecroft and Valley travels to St Ives.
