JAMBEROO Superoos have shrugged off a couple of weeks of sluggish form to wrap up a major preliminary semi-final spot with a 60-nil thumping of a plucky Albion Park-Oak Flats Eagles at Kevin Walsh Oval on Saturday.
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They went into the game below full strength with fullback Trent Ryan, winger Andrew Clarke and utility forward Luke Gilmore all missing, but in the end it mattered little as they ran in 11 tries against an Eagles team who have played well against Warilla Gorillas and Shellharbour City over the previous two weeks, but in their first game in the post Dean Gray era, struggled to match the home team in any part of the game.
A fast start was essential for both teams and it was the Superoos who scored in the seventh minute through stand-in fullback Josh Saunders and by the 14th minute the score had blown out to 18-NIL after Joe Rokoqo and Luke Asquith added tries and Corey Grigg converted all three as the game, even at that stage, seemed to be well out of the Eagles reach.
It wasn’t just the Jamberoo attack that was causing damage as the Eagles made frequent mistakes when they did have the ball through some uncompromising defence and when Rokoqo and James Gilmore crossed in the 20th and 32nd minutes, it blew the halftime score out to 30-NIL at the long break.
Both sides suffered injuries in the opening half, with Eagles centre Blake Jones forced off with a shoulder injury early and Jamberoo second-rower AJ Hatch injuring his knee – a worrying injury with the semi-finals just one week away.
The home side added a further 18 points from the 53rd to the 57th minutes through Steve Bouchard (twice) and Saunders, with Coreyb Grigg on fire, landing his first eight goals in an impressive display.
It was a similar story from the 70th to 78th minute when winger Ben Barnard got a double and Grigg made it a personal haul of 20 points with a try of his own.
While the Eagles tried hard all day, they just lacked the polish of the home side, but with a host of young players in their side and if they can attract a couple of experienced players to their ranks in the future, they can build a strong and successful side in the future.
Aaron Grigg and Matt Webster built a strong base for the Superoos up front, while Joe Rokoqo, Luke Asquith, Josh Saunders and Ben Barnard shone in a complete Jamberoo effort, while Matt Stone, Kyle Williams, Lewis Hazelton and Simon Harris tried hard all day for the visitors.