Sandy Bay 18 Boys saw an almost full squad confront a very strong Kowloon Stingrays side eager for revenge after their defeat in the first round of games.
The Bay boys were taken by surprise by the strength of the Kowloon side, especially their pushing in the scrums (maybe a little too quickly before the ball was in play). Kowloon were very quick to take this advantage scoring 2 tries within the first 10 minutes. The Bay boys held them off for the next quarter of an hour before Kowloon scored a third try. With the score 21-0 the Bay boys started to get their act together with Dom scoring a try in the last minutes of the first half.
The half-time break galvanised the players, and they dominated the second half keeping Kowloon away from the try line, though there were some close calls. The score difference closed with another try by Dom, and one more by Kiean. But despite 2 yellow cards against Kowloon, the boys couldn’t quite get the upper hand. Kowloon sealed their victory with a drop goal in the final minutes.
So, a victory to Kowloon, but judging by their rejoicing, an unexpected one.
Some work still to do, but we expect to see and beat Kowloon on our turn in the cup final.