17th July 2022 Round 13
Warilla Gorillas v Shellharbour Stingrays
Author: Sophie Gleeson
The Shellharbour Stingrays were too good for the Warilla Gorillas on Sunday the 17th July. Round 13 was always going to be hard against the big bodied Stringrays side and the scoreboard was not in favour of Warilla (this time) It was noticeable after this game that our first grade boys weren't happy with their performance. Although they didn't get the win, they are still sitting comfortably on the Group 7 Ladder as second place contenders.
Stingrays secured the first points of the day with a penalty kick in front of the post in the 7th minute. Not long after the Gorillas were left with 12 on the field when Guy Rosewarn was sent for 10 minutes, in the same incident, Kieran Rankmore from the Rays was sent for the game after his headbutt on Rosewarn. A few moments later with 12 v 12 and a penalty our way, the Gorillas were in trouble again, Aaron Henry was then sent for 10.
The Stingrays winger Jayden Harris chipped and chased and went over the line in the 23rd minute, with a successful conversion, they had a 8-0 lead on the Gorillas. After some quick play the balls and great attack through the middle Lleyton Hughes came up with the goods, scooting up the ball from dummy half and pushing through a Stingrays wall to finally add some points for the Gorillas, Beau Henry successfuly converted and we were back in it, 8-6 in the 29th minute of play.
Minutes before half time, the Stingrays were in again. The speed down the middle and the use of the whole field gave Delbanco a small hole to run through and secure another try. Heading into the sheds the Rays were up 14-6.
The second half began and the Gorillas looked hungry. After some beautiful work though the middle from Hughes, Brisbane and Burns, the ball was shifted to Rosewarn who crashed over the try line, giving the Gorillas the first points of the half. Henry successfuly converted and Warilla tightened the gap at 16-12. 10 minutes into the first half, we had a penalty 20 metres out of our try line. Rosewarn made a hard run at the Stingrays defence, played the ball to Paul Roberts who saw Jamie Burns coming through his left side. Roberts shifted the ball to Burns and it was try time. After a successful conversion Warilla was leading for the first time in 55 minutes of play.
Unfortunately that would come to an end minutes later, the Gorillas defence was not good enough for the Stingrays attack. After a huge run by Jake Kamire and a quick play the ball, it found the hands of Latu and another 4 points was added in favour of the Rays. With less than 3 minutes to go the opposition was way to quick for the Warilla once again, Scott was over, cementing a 26-18 lead. They weren't finished there, the Gorillas looked tired,sore and defeated. The oppposition snuck in a late try, the ball was quickly shifted left and Junior Vaivai secured the win for the Rays. The final score was 30-18. We had a few injuries and bloody noses, but I think the loss hurt more.
Over the past few weeks the Gorillas defence improved immensely, being something they put a lot of attention towards, only letting in 3 tries over the last two weeks. Unfortunately they fell back into their old ways and their defence lost them the game.
A huge shoutout to Lleyton Hughes who got the 3 points this game and players player. He was amazing in both attack and defence. I spoke to this weeks MVP about the game, “I think it was a great game. Was tough from the beginning. And I have to give credit to the stingrays for sticking it to us with only 12 players. Ultimately we weren’t good enough. We made too many mistakes and gave away too many penalties. But to give credit to us, there was a point there where we defended like 7 sets on our line in a row without letting in a point. I think the effort was definitely there but we just made too many mistakes and a few things just didn’t go our way.” I asked Hughes what he believes they should work on in the coming weeks, “I think this week we just need to focus on our discipline and make sure we all get to training. I’m not too worried about the loss, it’s only our second of the year and I think you need to lose to get better so I hope it will be a bit of a wake up call for us.”
Today was not our day down at Cec Glenholmes Oval, however, I would like to note that these boys have had 9 wins and 2 losses this season. Some of these being huge 38-4, 40-8 and 32-6 wins. I believe (in a weird way) that losing can be more important than winning. We learn more lessons in defeat. Losing prevents complacency. Losing is a form of feedback, it should prompt reflection. Losing gives us the opportunity to bounce back stronger than before. It forces us to evaluate our weaknesses and seek improvement. If we were perfect all the time, we would have nothing to work towards, nothing to fix, no goals and in the end being complacent can become boring. Losing is hard emotionally, but it's how you turn it around and prepare for the following week that matters. Next week we have Jamberoo at Jamberoo, another tough game ahead, but we believe in you boys! Let's go get em.