SATURDAY was a special day for Jamberoo Superoos in more ways than one.
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Not only did the club manage to break a two-game losing streak with a 44-22 win over the plucky Port Kembla Blacks, but it is believed that for the first time in club history, four brothers have turned out in club colours in first grade on the same day.
The surprise came with the appearance of Paul Asquith, fresh from representing Melbourne Rebels in the Super Rugby competition last week who joined siblings James, Mark and Luke in the first grade line-up following the late withdrawal of fullback Trent Ryan with flu.
Apart from the obvious highlight, the game also showed just how far the Blacks have come in 2016, despite the loss meaning they drop out of semi-final contention.
They went into the game with several players backing up from an earlier reserve grade at Flinders and only one player on the bench, trailed 26-6 at half-time, but still managed to keep pace with the home side in the second half.
The game started disastrously for the Port side when their kick-off went out on the full and just minutes later Superoos winger Josh Saunders scored in the corner.
Mark Asquith made it 10-nil in just the 12th minute and when Ben Wade was on the end of a classy backline movement soon afterwards it was 14-nil and looked like a very long afternoon for the Blacks.
However with captain James Storer and five-eighth Imran Hadaya lifting the side they opened their scoring in the 28th minute via centre Will Tamaari-Nemana and Hadaya converted to restore some respectability.
Jamberoo soon restored their advantage and late first half tries to AJ Hatch off a Corey Grigg break and a second to Saunders gave the home side their handy half-time advantage.
The home side would have been expecting to cruise home after the break and Blacks fullback Deejay Harris had first points of the second half straight after half-time, followed by Tamaari-Nemana’s second closed the gap to just 10.
Brilliant work by Superoo coach Jono Dallas led to Hatch crossing again, but the visitors just wouldn’t go away as Harris also notched his double for 32-22, before late tries to Wade and Mark Asquith also gave them doubles to round out the final score.
Incredibly, six players scored double in the game – accounting for all 12 tries scored.
Dallas, Saunders, James Asquith, Phil Webster and James Gilmore were the best for the Superoos, while Storer, Mark Simon, Hadaya, Emre Ketup and Aaron Lovich never stopped trying for the Blacks.