This was always going to be a close game but WHAT A GAME it was.
Top of the table clash against our traditional rivals. A 70 minute game that featured everything - high intensity, strong tackles, (I don't think any were missed), defensive intensity, more tries for the good guys than the opposition and of course referee errors.

Valley kicked off and right from the start the game was played at a very high level intensity. However slowly Sandy Bay started to have the ascendancy winning rucks, lineouts and dominating the scrums. In time the pressure was rewarded with two tries by Matisse, one of which was converted by Oscar. The second half was a different matter and Valley put the boys under pressure with most of the game being played in our half. Twice Valley were in our 22 for almost 10 minutes and twice were held up on the try line. Despite all the pressure Sandy Bay kept trying to play the ball out with one strong run by Lionel to shrug off his marker and pass to Matisse who went on a solo kick and run to score a decisive try.
Towards the Valley did manage to pull one back at the death with the conversion being the last kick of the game.

One of the big things I noticed from the friendly we play with them was the pressure they put on our rucks. A big turnaround since then where we constantly put their rucks under pressure and turned them over a number of times - a testament to the training by the boys and more importantly coaching by Marno and Luke

Lastly, a big thank you to Dale for the pictures