The Ray White Noosa Dolphins survived a fast finishing University to win the Sunshine Coast Rugby Union Major Semi Final 34-29 in front of a big crowd at Sunshine Beach last Saturday. The victory sees the Dolphins men’s A Grade head directly into the Grand Final to be held at Sunshine Beach on Sunday 31 August. In the second match between the two sides in 7 days, the Dolphins late season form continued in the first half, mounting a 20 points to 3 lead just twenty minutes into the match. ‘We knew following our big win against University the week before, that they would mount a big come back in the major semi final’ said assistant coach Alfi Hill. ‘We again got off to a great start but allowed Uni to get back into the match going into the halftime break where we held a 27-15 lead, but as they did in last years grand final, they kept grinding it out and we didn’t stick to our game plan as well as we should have’ Hill added.
With the Dolphins victory and direct entry secured, University this weekend takes on Caloundra to determine the Dolphins grand final opposition.
The Dolphins reserve Grade team have also secured direct entry onto their Grand Final with a tough 15-8 victory over their University opponents. As with A Grade, University and Caloundra meet in the knockout final on Saturday.
Having finished third on the ladder, the Ray White Dolphins Senior Women travelled to Maroochydore on Sunday for their knockout semi against Brothers. Despite the absence of a number of players due to injury and work commitments, the Dolphins took the match 12-7 to progress to Saturdays knock out match against Nambour. ‘We have played Brothers twice this year and both matches finished 5-0, both clubs winning one match each, and didn’t expect anything but another tight game’ said coach Damien Cogill. ‘We took a 5-0 lead early in the match, but despite field dominance, were not able to break away, losing shape across the paddock, drifting sideways when we know our strength is playing more direct rugby’ Cogill added. The half time break allowed a reset with the Dolphins returning to the field with a more disciplined performance converting position into points and holding off their opponents into full time. The Senior Women face another knockout match this Saturday when they travel to University to take on the high flying Nambour Toads. The winner of that match return to Noosa on grand final day to take on Caboolture, who defeated Nambour to move directly into the grand final.
The up and down season of the Dolphins Friday Night team came to end last Friday when they were knocked out in the first week of the finals by Nambour. Whilst disappointed in the teams’ stumble, coach Brad Torta remained very proud of his young team. ‘For the first few rounds of the season, we didn’t even think we could get a team together and held real concerns that we would have to withdraw from the competition all together’ Torta said. ‘We then had an injection of a number of former Noosa Juniors who hadn’t intended to play this season due to the loss of the under 19 competition and they were pivotal in our success in making the finals’.
Dolphins President Chris Burton was understandably on edge last weekend as he and his club awaited the result. ‘Sunday the 31st Augusts now sees the Noosa Dolphins host our first grand final in five years, and we are very excited with the prospect’. ‘It has been a tough few years in many ways, but last year we took a big leap forward taking out the premiership after a disastrous 2023 season, and to now be back in a position to host the Grand Final is great for us as a club, for our players and importantly, our large and dedicated group of sponsors and supporters. The washout of round 4 has seen the season pushed back a week, but that meant a clash with the Junior Grand Finals on the Saturday so for the first time in the competition history, we see a Sunday afternoon decider’ Burton added.
Matches this weekend at the University Sippy Downs fields:
• 11.30 Senior Women Noosa v Nambour
• 1.30 University v Caloundra
• 3.30 University v Caloundra
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