Banditos Match Report: Banditos V Pot Belly Pigs

Sandy Bay Banditos kicked off the Rugby season with the first league game to be played for 2020/2021 (i think) on Saturday. We had a great squad of old boys from the HKCC days, Sandy Bay Veterans and some new recruits.

The Sandy Bay warm up consisted mainly of making sure limbs were strapped on securely and the Captain holding up a rugby ball aloft reminding the players of what one looked like. A few passes, lots of drops, one quick line out and the boys were ready. On the other side of the pitch the Pot Bellies were doing a bad rendition of the hookie cookie with most of the almost geriatrics forgetting which is their left and right.

The boys were all in position for the kick off, when Tony Scott said loudly, “oi Forwards, you’re fat, slow, and can’t pass, you’d better tackle otherwise Jez will drop you from the Raiders.” The speech inspired the covid pounds wearing juggernauts who came out the blocks looking to tackle anyone with and without the ball. For a good solid 5 minutes the Pot Bellies couldn’t make any ground. But eventually finding cracks in our armour and a few good line breaks by the Piggies saw the Banditos defending on their line but after a great turnover at the breakdown and Ross’ blindside run and clearance kick with no angle, put the boys out of danger, finally Sandy Bay could get their hands on pill and show what they were capable of ball in hand.

Winning a penalty to put the ball in the corner, the forwards set up a solid platform with a good lineout inside the 22 and big carries to suck in the defenders. This allowed the backs to do what they do best, swing the ball through the hands and to everyone’s amazement Godders at the end of a great pass caught and ran the ball round the back under the posts. The Banditos had drawn first blood and with an easy conversion the score was now 7-0.

Pot Bellies were on the back foot now and straight from the kick off the Banditos were hungry for another try. Forwards once again crashing the ball up gaining good meters when the” hot ball” was called and JB at inside centre did the legendary show and go move that once again baffled the defence, the ref, the spectators and even some team mates. Running through holes he created, JB found himself with only the fallback to contend with and with Pony on his inside, it was a simple two v one that was pulled off spectacularly allowing Pony to run it under the posts. Thinking it was 10s Pony attempted a drop goal for the conversion and hit a slice shot that Tiger Woods would have been proud of as the ball sailed towards the corner flag. Score was now 12-0.

The play was back and forth and mainly in the Bandito 22 when the forwards forced a knock on after a monstrous hit from Matt Whitmel. The noise of the crunch was heard from the sidelines and that was the last time anyone from the oppo ran directly into Whitmel’s path for the rest of the game. Winning the scrum once again Ross ran the blind side and kicked another mammoth (at least 60 meters) no angle kick that bounced along the side line until eventually going out. Pot Bellies not wishing to have the ball in their own court kicked the ball after their lineout straight into the arms of Rolls Royce (TScott) who ran the ball back and with some fancy footwork scored in the corner to take the Banditos to 17. A truly tough conversion attempt for most, but a kick that would have knocked Tom Mckenzies shirt off, was made by Tibbatts who sent the ball straight through the middle of the posts, taking the good guys up to 19-0.

Pot Bellies not giving up or being disheartened by the score, came back into the game and with a good run down the wing despite Denis’ best efforts scored in the corner to end the half 19-5.

Receiving the ball this time in the second half kick off, the Banditos took the game to Pot Bellies and it wasn’t long before gaps were created in their defence, Godders once again was on the end of another overlap with a nice run and touch down. Not sure who attempted the next conversion but there was no cigar and the Banditos were up 24-5.

On the attack again with the ball nicely going through the hands JB once again tried his infamous show and go, I don’t know why anyone is fooled by this, but it gets the opposition every time. Instead of his mad dash through the lines JB decided to break tradition and pop the ball, instead of finding another Bandito it went straight into the arms of the opposition, one of their younger ringers no less who, so happy to have the ball, ran it back up the pitch. Everyone was so confused with what happened that our defence took too long to react and Pot Bellies scored their second try of the match.

With renewed confidence the Pot Bellies came back at the Banditos and after a good scrum and some substitutions of quicker fellas, who we are not quite sure were over 35 let alone over 40, broke through the lines to bring the score to a more admirable 24-15.

With a shake of heads and finally some water in bellies, the Banditos looked to get back into the game and with some great line breaks from Pony, the Banditos had the Pot Bellies on the back foot. After some good pod work and quick recycling from rucks, Pony once again had the ball, not to be out done by Godders who had a brace of tries under his name, ran through the defence to place the ball under the posts. To prove to all he can take a drop goal, he ran back to the twenty two, ball in hand, and made a kick that would have made Johnny Wilkinson proud. The score was now 31-15

Josh Wrafter and Rossco had had an excellent partnership steering the backs around the paddock the whole game and their wonderful combination saw the backs in an excellent try scoring opportunity and it was our other lightning winger Tibbatts diving over the whitewash to take the Banditos up to 36-15. Tibbatts looking to add the extras sent the ball flying through the posts into the car park, stopping play and giving everyone a chance to have a breather with only 2 minutes on the clock. The ref asked if the Pot Bellies wished to continue or shall we call it a day, but they felt they had one more score in them, so play continued and they looked all set to score when their young ginger captain broke through the line. He thought he was away and eased up his pace slightly, only for giant lock Will Binnie to come crashing into his back taking him down and causing the knock on. Winning a steady scum, and getting a penalty from illegal entry into the ruck. The boys won their lineout and Josh asked the ref if time was up, with a nod from him, Wrafter sent the ball into the sideline to end the game 38-15.

A big welcome to debutants Brian, Chris and Andy, who got stuck in and got right into the Bandito spirit, welcome to the club lads. Special thanks to Gav Hermann for running the sideline and substitutions, also to Dewwy Issacs for helping with water bottle labeling and hydration. The Banditos will have their next game on Nov 20th (Friday Night) so come on down and enjoy a beer under the floodlights of KP and hopefully watch our boys to Victory over the big club rival Tigers!

Man of the Match: JJ Nazer for his relentless tackles
Dick of the Day: JB for the Show and No Go

Try Scorers:
James Pony Stevenson: 2 tries
Simon Godders Godfey : 2 tries
Tony long arm Scott: 1 try
Shaun Tibbatts: 1 try

Conversions:
Tibbatts 3
Pony 1