After a missed week to wet grounds, the Noosa Dolphin Juniors were ready to run into round 12. Here’s what happened around the Coast’s grounds for our awesome rugby up-and-comers.
Under 12s
The Noosa U12s kicked off round 12 with a challenge against the Eumundi Dragons. All the boys arrived at the field wanting to grab victory, starting strong in the first half with a few great tries. When changes were made to the team, we continued to fight hard and took some great opportunities leading to more tries. After a mighty first half, the U12s led the Dragons 34-0. With the physicality and strength at the breakdown, the tries just kept coming and coming. Noosa led 56-0, but the Dragons didn’t want to finish without any points. With Noosa giving too many infringements and penalties away, the Dragons acted and scored two converted tries. The final score was 56-14. Domino’s Players of the Match went to Dane Monie and Siem Vanvelzen who were both physical at the breakdown and executed some excellent tackles. Written by U12s player Alex Bingham.
Under 11s
A fast start from the Dolphins U11s led to two quick tries to Matthew and Luke. Controlled ball movement and width in attack helped to stretch our Saints opposition and the Dolphins looked set to run away with the game. Again, poor ball security, drive at the breakdown and missed tackles cost us dearly. The Saints capitalised on these with some long-range tries. The score lead fluctuated throughout the game but in the end the Dolphins went down by a conversion on the siren. Thanks to the parents’ support and coaching staff.
Under 10s
The Noosa U10s Reds played away at Caloundra versus the ever-tight Brothers outfit this round. It was a tough game for our boys against this strong side. We had a lot of opportunities but too often had the ball ripped out of our hands or dropped the ball altogether. However, Kai and Max kept the boys on their toes and we went into the first half with the score tied up. In the second half, we started well but again, our hands let us down. The boys played hard right to the end and never gave in, with a final score of 12-all. Congratulations to Riley and Cooper for being our Domino’s Players of the Match. I’m away for the month. Good luck for the rest of the season boys and be the very best you can be. Look after each other, be kind to each other, play hard, wear the Dolphins jumper with pride, and most of all, enjoy the game. It’s a pleasure to coach you boys and I will definitely be back next season. I know you will be left in good hands with Andrew. Cheers from coach Chris.
Under 9s
It was a chill and ominous wind that blew across the playing fields of Grammar as the Dolphins U9 boys warmed up for their big match against the highly fancied Brothers. What a start! From the kickoff Mason gathered the ball and crashed through the opposition defence for the first try after seven seconds. Alas, Brothers had been reading from the same play book and despite some desperate tackling from Harvey they returned serve almost immediately. This set the pattern for the day. We saw some magnificent work from Emmerson to force a turnover, only to lose the ball and force Jake into a try-saving tackle on the last line of defense. The ball was everywhere and then a tremendous run from Taylor with a slick pass to Ben almost resulted in a try, but the defence arrived just in time to knock Ben into touch. As ever Hudson was in everything, with big hits and great runs keeping us going forward. It was hard to keep up with the frantic pace, Huxley proved a Trojan in tight, shutting down the forward movements. Monty as ever was tireless in both attack and defence, Tom was making searching runs, but the final play of the half saw as good a blindside as you will see with Taylor drawing the defence to put Ben over in the corner. 2-3 at oranges.
The second half was desperation with Hunter leading the way in tackle count He only just shaded Zac in that area, with Zac also working himself into the ground. A couple of tries against the run of play distorted the score in favour of Brothers, but Miller did his best even things up with two great second-half tries. The final say of the match went to Tom with his huge tackle on a Brothers player resulting in an urgent call for the zambuck, but fortunately he was OK. Congratulations to the Domino’s Players of the Match, Hunter and Hudson, and farewell to Harvey and team manager Shane who will be away for the remainder of the season.
