HAWKESBURY City Junior Rugby League’s A Grade team flogged Doonside by 40 points on Sunday to cap off a great season for the club.
City ended up winning the match 62-22, with a number of late tries blowing out the scoreline.
Fullback Robert Duff had a brilliant game, scoring four tries, while second rower Jeff Ryan bagged a hat-trick and centre Jospeh Haora kicked seven goals from eight attempts.
Things looked ominous for Doonside from the start.
The team dropped the ball just a few tackles into its first set, and Hawkesbury City made them pay for it, scoring nearly immediately through Haora.
However, the next 15 minutes saw Hawkebsury City struggle with dropped ball, and Doonside struck back to level up the score at 6-6.
From there, Hawkesbury City slowly but surely asserted more dominance over Doonside, and eventually went into the break leading 24-12.
Duff scored two of his four tries in the first half, breaking through the lien and walking over untouched on both occasions.
Mere moments into the start of the second half, he was at it again, scoring from long range to sow doubt in the minds of his opponents.
His last try was perhaps his best. During a back line move, an errant pass from halfback Hayden Bell went behind Duff, who, without breaking stride, trapped the ball between his right arm and his hip and strolled through the Doonside line.
Jeff Ryan’s final try saw him break a number of tackles, push through the Doonside line and streak away from all chasers to score under the posts.
Ryan’s first try saw him side step a number of Doonside forwards and power his way over the line, while his second was down to pure determination, running through multiple Doonside defenders to score.
He worked well with Bell to earn a number of quick play the balls all game.
Teague said there was no secret to his team successful season, which saw them lose only one game, and that one by two points.
“The team are a real tight bunch of blokes,” he said.
“They are good mates and have played together for a while. They committed to training and really I think that has been the difference all year.”
Teague said playing only two games over four weeks in the finals hurt the team early in the match with dropped balls, but they soon got over their jitters.
“I was fairly confident we could win but you don't want to be too confident heading into a grand final,” he said.
“Sometimes having a week off doesn't help you. You can lose some of the momentum. it probably didn't help us but that is just how it goes.”
Joseph Haora was voted best on field for his two tries and his near perfect goal kicking performance.
