At Summer Hill, the warm up games were split, with the home side getting up 19-0 in the 3rds and the visitors taking the 2nds 27-0.
A nasty incident marred the 2nd XV match when the Aloys #7 punched an opposition player in the back of the head while his back was turned. This cowardly act was compounded when only moments later one of the Trinity players retaliated by punching the Aloys #7 in the jaw from his blindside. Deeply disgraceful and incidents that in professional sport would have led to very long suspensions. Fortunately it appears neither of the players who were punched was seriously injured, but a very unedifying spectacle.
The 1st XV match started in more positive spirit, with both the home and visiting supporters in good voice. Only a few minutes into the match an Aloys back line move from the set piece left Trinity's defence in tatters. First blood to the visitors it was shaping up as a tough day out for Trinity.
Trinity hit back quickly, with #10 (Siteine) showing excellent footwork and benefiting from holding the ball in two hands with outside options, to slice through the first line of defence, step the fullback and go in under the posts
After that the game devolved into more of a stalemate. Aloys looks much better organised in general and their very mobile back row was highly effective at recycling the ball in the first half (although gave away a few penalties leaving their feet on Trinity's ball).
Trinity gave the crowd an increasingly bizarre spectacle at line out time as, despite not winning any, they tried increasingly complex line out moves. The scrum was reasonably even, with Aloys having the slight upper hand but not enough to disrupt Trinity's ball. Some aimless kicking up the middle of the field gave Aloys plenty of good ball, but Trinity's scrambling defence was excellent, with good tackles being made across the park, with in particular the #6 (Filippo) making a series of strong one-on-one tackles.
The first half ended 10-10, which Trinity would have been satisfied with, given the amount of ball Aloys had on attack.
The second half started perfectly for Trinity. Pressure from the Trinity #1 (Wayland), who is very mobile for a front-rower and a relentless threat from kick restarts, saw Aloys spill the kick off. A few pick and drives later and the Trinity pack muscled over for try number 2.
Although still scrappy at the set piece, Trinity's forwards started to roll over Aloys in the second half, with strong defence from the pack and inside backs in the middle of the park starting to rattle the ball loose regularly. A couple of fair but very hard tackles left Aloys players down and winded.
The game remained locked at 15-10 for most of the second half, with Aloys increasingly reliant on their giant #14 (Diamond?) to break the Trinity line. Although this strong, fast young man made serious inroads with each run, he was well-contained and it perhaps became a little predictable at times that Aloys would use him as the battering ram.
Trinity's skipper and #8 was sin binned for what I think was a high tackle, but that didn't lead to any shift in the pattern of play, with Aloys continuing to have good ball, and Trinity continuing to defend tenaciously.
As the game wore on Trinity gained composure and started to play with more structure. Trinity's #10 (Siteine) looked composed and well organised, and Trinity started to make more ground up the middle.
For Aloys, they were playing more and more in their own half, but continued to clear their line on the back of strong runs from their #11 (Diamond) and #12 (Lawson), but increasingly they appeared to lack the outside pace or the sharp attacking edge required to go all the way.
With the game increasingly looking like Trinity's to lose, the nerves were quelled by an excellent Trinity try that sealed the deal. Trinity's #12 (Longville) made an outstanding break, displaying pace and evasive footwork to beat half a dozen players and advance the ball some 40 meters right up the middle. From the ensuing play Trinity's halves gave good service to #8 (McClellan) standing out in the centers and from 15 meters out nobody was going to stop him, with a barnstorming run ending with the ball slammed down next to the posts.
Final score 22-10.
For Aloys, #14 (Diamond) was a threat each time he had the ball and his size, pace and strength will challenge all of the defences this season. #12 Lawson also ran strongly, although with a tendency to move sideways and take space from his outside backs. With his height and power he could be extremely damaging if he straightens up his running angles. The Aloys back row was also very effective, without any one of them standing out. Indeed, the forward pack was generally good, working efficiently at set pieces and the breakdown, to which they always arrived quickly and in numbers. They appear a well-drilled side with a hard-working team ethic.
For Trinity, the #6 (Filippo) was for mine the Man of the Match, making numerous strong ball and all tackles to shut Aloys down, including at least two that were try saving on the line. #8 (McClennan) was very strong, with several bullocking runs and some punishing defence and #10 (Siteine) looked well-organised and elusive and likely to be very dangerous with some better ball from set pieces.
Generally, both teams will be happy with committed defensive efforts.
Aloys needs to straighten up and be a bit more direct in attack. Trinity desperately needs to work on its line out and kicking game.
Trinity's NSW representative (inside center Morris) was out this week, but when he returns and Longville (who has an excellent kicking game) moves to fullback, most of the kicking problems should be addressed and Trinity's back line looks better than it has for a few years. So the key for Trinity would seem to be getting its powerful forwards to make sure they get numbers to the breakdown and win their own ball on the set piece.
