Every cloud has a silver lining, and so it proved for Sydney Uni in their Metro League round-nine clash with Asquith at Storey Park on Saturday despite the Magpies running in six tries to the Students’ one for a 28-6 win.
Uni looked promising early and bombed a couple of chances. With coach Jake Vrahnos sitting out the match, they lacked a composed kicking game, which is vital in every contest but especially in the incredibly wet conditions in which this game was played.
Asquith are the competition benchmark and, to their credit, successfully played dry-weather football, which resulted in their first two tries. At 10-nil down, Uni hit back when some smart Storm Burazer dummy-half play put big right-winger Ashley Johnson over in the corner. In one of the more miraculous kicks this correspondent has seen, Max Linden-Smith converted from the sideline.
At 10-6 Uni were in the contest and just needed to retain their composure. But it was not to be, and Asquith ran in two more unconverted tries to take an 18-6 lead to the break. It was typical of the day that one of those tries came from Uni mounting a promising raid, only for Asquith to swoop on a loose pass and race 75 metres to the line.
The Lions started the second half in a determined fashion, but in one of only three incursions to the Uni red zone in the entire stanza, the Magpies “picked up” a try from dummy half. The Asquith player was short of the stripe, but his celebration was enough to convince the ref.
The home side’s final try, again, came from impressive dry-weather football – a lofted pass to the left-winger 45 metres from the line resulting in a classy touchdown. A couple of grubby incidents towards the end took something away from Asquith’s performance, but it was good to see Uni respond and defend their teammates.
So, silver lining? Getting dusted six tries to one sounds like a dismal effort to match the weather. Not so. Coach Vrahnos was upbeat after the game saying how proud he was to be associated with the club and this playing group.
“They just have a gritty attitude, which is so good to see,” he said. “All I asked for after last week was an improvement in certain areas, and despite the score, they showed that.”
The east coast low ensured there was more than one cloud hovering over north-western Sydney on Saturday and as such, more than one silver lining. Uni were informed after the match that the other Metro League fixtures had been called off. This rendered the result of the Asquith game meaningless.
Uni man of the match: Myles Fowler
Uni players’ player points: Myles Fowler 3, Storm Burazer 2, John Downes 1.
Asquith 28 beat Sydney University 6 (Johnson try; M Linden-Smith conv).
Note: incomplete round voided the result.
Report by Dac. Crocker thanks to Halage Media .
