Colts Trials

4-5/3/06

Redcliffe defeated Souths-Logan 30-22 in an entertaining Colts trial at Brandon Park in the last weekend before the full competition begins. The proposed trial between competition newcomers Sunshine Coast and Tweed Heads was cancelled due to the wet weather during the week.

24-25/2/06

The Sunshine Coast Falcons Colts side played with plenty of courage but were eventually outgunned by a bigger, fitter, faster Norths side in their Sunday trial at Quad Park. The Falcons were in fact first to score in the 9th minute and Norths did not hit the from until they scored two quick tries after 24 minutes play. Another try before half-time saw the visitors go to the break leading 18-6, and despite some resolute defence they scored 4 more converted tries in the second half to win 42-6. Halfback Luke Capewell scored 26 points (including 4 tries ) for Norths whilst 16 year old sensation Issy Filau and U18s Daniel Isaac and Steve Beaumont notching tries. Impressive second rower Aiden Guerr and replacement forward Scott Idec also kicked goals. The Sunshine Cost's try was scored by centre Dave Brown with David Peck converting. Norths starting side contained no less than 8 players under 18 years of age with a further 3 coming off the bench.

NORTHS SIDE: 1. Jerrod Stack 2.Issy Filau, 3.Sam McPhail, 4.Daniel Isaac, 5.Steve Beaumont, 6.Blaine Harding, 7.Luke Cpaewll, 8.Lachlan Hompes, 9.Clint Matthews, 10.Isaac Schwenke, 11.Rohan Ahern, 12.Aiden Guerr, 13.Dean Frankom, 14.Mitchell Griffiths, 15.James Friske, 16.Mick Tamarika, 17.Kieran Turner, 18.Scott idec, 20.Will Chambers.

Wynnum beat Redcliffe 30-24 and Easts beat Ipswich 18-14 in the two FOGS Colts trials held on Saturday afternoon. In Toowoomba, Norths ExWavell second rowers Sam Tagataese and Sika Manu played havoc with the young Clydesdale backline, both proving nearly unstoppable and scoring three tries each in the Devils 58-10 Qld Cup trial win, ironically later to prove the same score that the Storm triumphed by over the senior Bronco side.  Will Chambers was the best if the U18s for the wnners whilst Nathan Strudwick and Dave Taylor tried hard for the losers. Jacob Fauid and Alex Tallon struggled in defence early, but performed better later in the game. Joel Moon was also quiet. The Clydesdales were outplayed all over the field with only Denan Kemp causing any problems for the Norths defence with the little ball they did get. Jackson Nicolau and Smith Samau were impressive in the backs for Norths.

Western Districts Colts scored an impressive 22-6 trial win over Aspley in the first FOGS Colts game held at Kirby Road. The big crowd was treated to an entertaining batch with some impressive passages of play and a series of fiery clashes, several involving the U18 players on display. Aspley, still minus several of their big names, opened well and were first on the board afetr 12 minutes when hooker Matt Bailey darted over. Vaughan Eriksen's conversion gave them a 6-0 lead, and they looked like extending that lead several times in the next 10 minutes, only desperate Panther defence denying them points. The Panthers gradually fought their way back into the game and were rewarded in the 25th minute when propo Troy Giess crossed. this was unconverted, but a 90 metre converted intercept try by flying winger Adam Breen a few minutes later saw the visitors take a 10-6 lead to the break. The start of the second half saw a number of fiery incidents, culminating in a spectacular punch-up between U18s Kim Ingebrigsten and Pat McPherson which saw them both despatched to the sin-bin, where they enjoyed some further verbal sparring. The Panthers had 10 reserves and used them well and got further on top the longer the game went, with 2 further tries putting the game beyond date, the final score being Western Districts 22, Aspley 6.

Teams:Aspley: 1.Scott Millar, 2.Pat Brennan, 3.Chris Bella, 4.Troyden Edwards, 5.Chris Minehan, 6.Vaughan Eriksen, 7.Josh Costello, 8.Pat McPherson, 9.Matt Bailey, 10.Brynyar Ragnarsson, 11.Simona Vavega, 12.John Smith, 13.Aaron McVeigh, 14,Steve Johnston, 15.Mick Tirney, 17.Zac Webber

Panthers; 1.Andrew Skrzypa, 2.Adam Breen, 3.Ryan Corrie, 4.James Adamson, 5.Troy Rowbotham/Michael Walker, 6.Chris Chaisty/Kristian Freed, 7.Mataika Vatuvei, 8.Curtis Purcell, 9.Dean Sheppard, 10.Troy Giess/Khan Kelly, 11.Liam McDonald, 12.Lachlan Rowland, 13.Tino Vaasa/Kim Ingebrigsten, 14.Brendan Altadonna, 15.Shaun Maloney, 16.Dan Gorman, 17.Vunga Nelisi, 18.Brett Zgrajewski, 20.Dean Madders

21/2/06

A fit and fast New Zealand Warriors development squad accounted for Ipswich Colts easily at Brothers Ipswich on Tuesday night. The visitors were older, bigger and more experienced than their local rivals, however there were still some good performances by some of the U18 players including Geoff Holcombe, Joe Chudleigh and Tim McIlwain.

18/2/06

All eleven FOGS Challenge Colts teams played on Saturday Feb 18, although several fielded non full strength teams as they finalise their squads for the season. Defending premiers Norths, including ex-Sprana and Arana players Jay Aston and Rob Southwood and fellow U18s Dan Dewar, Lachlan Hompes, Luke Samoa and Kieran Tuner overcame Burleigh 22-14. Unfortunately Jozey Stubicar was unavailable having broken his ankle in a touch game on the beach.

I watched the first half of the Souths-Logan v Western Districts game at Dawson Pde, with the Magpies somewhat lucky to lead 12-0 at halftime with the home side butchering several try scoring opportunities. The visitors ran awy in the second half to win 42-6. Brendan Altadonna and Dan Gorman turned in solid performances for the losers whilst Miah Walters was very impressive in the first half for the winners, with Sam Setu, Mase Laulu and Kruize Filipini also dangerous.

Redcliffe, including U18s Matt Handcock, Angus Cameron, Jack Webb, Matt Glllett, Tim Yee and Andrew Rickert proved too strong for a patched up Aspley Colts outfit winning 32-12.  For Aspley "Jolly" Josh Costello returned from injury whilst Scott Millar, Pat McPherson and Vaughan Eriksen played well. Millar and Eriksen also backed up for the A Grade. In the main game Jacob Fauid turned in another eye-catching performance and Joel Moon played well in his return from injury. Nathan Strudwick turned in a typical hard-working performace whilst Alex Tallon had a quiet game in the unfamiliar left wing position.

Wynnum defeated Ipswich comfortably but both fielded second string teams in their trial, with Ipswich savingtheir main side to take on a New Zealand Warriors development squad at Brothers Ipswich on Tuesday night.

Have not received any reports at this stage from the Sunshine Coast/Easts or Tweed/Twba Bros clashes.

1/2/06

Wynnum showed they will be a force to be reckoned with in the FOGS Challenge with a 40-12 trial win over Aspley today. Admittedly Aspley were below strength and the game was a scrappy affair played in oppressive conditions, but the Wynnum side showed some flashes of brilliance in attack and were resolute in defence. U18 players Matt Smith and Luke Mehninnit shone for the winners between them scoring 18 points in the first half to set up a 22-0 lead to the home side at the break.  Converted tries to Alex Tallon and Steven Johnston brought the visitors back within 10 points early in the second half, but that would be as close as they would get, with Wynnum running away to win 40-12. U18 Players from last year's Brissie U17 comp on display were Alex T, Struddy, AJ and Vaughan Eriksen for Aspley, along with Scott Millar from Wide Bay, and Matt Smith and Mitchell Muir for Wynnum , along with Nathan Beckett  (WB) and Luke Menhinnit (Twba). Incidenttaly Jacob Fauid had a very good game in a losing side in the Qld Cup trial held this evening. Scorers: Wynnum 40 (M.Smith 2, B.Cronin, M.Aitkin, L.Menhinnit, C.McQueen, W.Jensen, R.Congoo tries, Menhinnit 4 goals) def Aspley 12 (A.Tallon, S.Johnston tries, Tallon 2 goals).

In other games Wests defeated a Norths side which did not play any of its storm contracted players 24-22, and Easts defeated Souths-Logan - score tba.