On Saturday the Elks took on theUNE Barbarians in the last round round before the semi-finals.
The Strathbogie connection of Richard Salmon, Ashley Whitehead and Sam Baker graciously sourced a full new playing strip for the Elks. Despite the week off Whitehead was not fully recovered to play however nothing could stop him getting into the new jumpers, and he proudly strutted the kit along the sideline, with the faithful ball boys in mini -me matching outfits.
Captain Baker misread the press and brought along his sister (we asked for brothers...), it seemed she was going to have to play on the wing but thankfully Andrew Hall decided to play as he suspected the referee would let him ruck a few guys out. Simon Haron came across town from TAS and brought with him two others, Boyd Lameraux and Adam Chiu, to make up the numbers.
A very stiff breeze made the opening formalities important for captain Baker, he prefers a toss off to “pick the hand with the whistle” and was defeated at the opening. As a result the Elks had to fight against the wind in the first half.
The Elks won the ball back from the kick off and proceeded to play quite well, the cohesiveness a result of the attendance at training, which was better than it has been for five years. It was difficult for the Elks to get out of their half as the Barbarians utilized the wind, Joe Tonkin elected to run the ball from the Elks’ half more than kick, and this paid dividends. Stuart ‘Hallys-mate’ McClintock at inside centre made regular breaks as did Tonkin to get the Elks on a roll. One such foray saw the fiery Dan Hollingworth win the breakdown and clear the ball quickly; it was fed through Sharp to Tonkin to Ben Newbury to Haron, who if you don’t know is extremely quick with a devastating swerve. The rest of us watched as Haron streaked away, beat the winger then fullback to score a fine try. McClintock converted and the Elks led 7 nil.
Most of the first half was very similar, the Elks played the best rugby they have played all year, repeat phases, crisp lineouts and backs running at angles not to mention across the board a committed defence led by Matt Webster and ‘Hally’s-mate’ Mclintcok.
A half break by Tonkin, Salmon secured quick ball out to a backline of forwards with a fine string of passes reaching Webster coming back on an angle to brush past the first tackler and bumped through the second before having to wrestle past the last man and score another great try. Webster is another veteran rookie and leads the Elks try scorer list. The conversion unsuccessful, Elks out by 12 to nil.
The Barbarians managed to create space from a kick that didn’t find touch, and combined well to put the winger away for a neat try in the corner, the wind making conversions difficult, it missed and at half time the Elks led 12 to 5.
Coach Ron de Cleene was pleased with his charges, and especially the New Zealand attitude exhibited by Andrew Hall who despite being on the wing managed to find plenty of opportunities for rucking. The lineouts were a success and all we needed to do was use the wind. The Barbarians substituted a few first graders at half time to attempt to wrest the Elks advantage, however the defence of McClintock certainly shut down Barbarians star Boyle. The Barbarians pack was similarly reinforced and the Elks battled hard all day, particularly Jason de Cleene in the front row.
Though the breeze was strong it turned to disadvantage as some kicks went so long they went dead in goal and brought back for a scrum. The Elks had to dig deep against the onslaught of the Barbarians who tried every way they could to breach the Elks line unsuccessfully. Late in the half Haron went by himself from the base of the ruck, stepped the first man and raced and swerved his way 35m to the line to end the game with a try, unconverted the final score 17 to 5 in favour of the Elks.
Highlights included an amazing cover tackle pulled off by fullback Ben Newbury, like a red flash he covered the field diagonally while his opponent ran down the sideline, absolute try saving effort. The tries of Haron, the bone crunching tackles of McClintock and Webster and the performance of the Elks lineout including the throws of fiery Dan Hollingworth.
The Elks have made enormous improvement this year and look to be a threat to most teams in the competition.
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