Obviously Julia Gillard, Bob Brown and Greg Combet have never had a Saturday afternoon at the rugby in Walcha, not that any of them would have played the game even though I have a sneaky suspicion Julia would be far more effective at the breakdown than the other two who would probably need to stand further out than the wingers.
If they had been to Walcha in winter they would soon understand that the concept of global warming has not reached the top of the Great Divide with Walcha putting on another display of winter weather, albeit warmer than last year it was getting particularly fresh by full-time.
The big concern for Scone rugby was that the players would arrive and refuse to get out of the bus. However after 20 minutes of threats and cajoling they emerged to find the temperature that morning had only been minus two and not the minus 12 from last year.
This greatly encouraged both Scone sides and they sprung into their warm-ups and after changing in dressing rooms built for under 7s rather than adults the Belmore Hotel second grade trotted out against the second grade leaders, Walcha.
The lads were indeed in for a tough battle and Scone playing like a team who has quite a relaxed attitude to training took a while to get going.
Walcha were able to pile on some easy points until Scone rallied in the second half to stop the flow of tries with centre John Ramsey scoring two of his own one following a great cross field kick from Neil Hill. The boys battled hard to the end, and even though they had the better of the second half they went down 40 to 12.
The Brumbies’ first grade were in for a very torrid time against the competition leaders with Walcha having the better of the field position and possession for the first half.
Scone defended well for most of the half trading penalties with Walcha and it was only until just before half-time Walcha were able to cross after a lineout mix up by Scone.
Going into the break Scone were down 10-6 but still in the game, Walcha were able to score again and kick two goals to lead 20 to 6. Scone through Nick Garner crossed to take the score to 20 to13 and really lifted their intensity. From a penalty Scone hammered away at Walcha’s line but one poor decision ended the raid and Scone’s chances. Walcha with two minutes to go crossed out wide to reach the final score of 25 to 13.
With a couple of better decisions in attack and defence Scone could have got over the top of Walcha but good sides really can punish a team for one or two errors. Best for Scone were Lewis Adams at 12 and Ryan Jackson at 2
This weekend Scone with two grades in tow travel to Quirindi.
