THE South Coast Group Seven competition finally restarted on Saturday with a hard-fought grand final replay, with a 78th minute field-goal by Kiama half Cameron Vazzoler sealing the Knights a scrappy 9-8 win over Jamberoo Superoos at Kevin Walsh Oval.
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With the competition postponed for more than three months because of the coronavirus, the long lay-off was probably the main reason for the scrappy nature of the game, while rain midway through the second half also contributed to the game not reaching any great heights.
Jamberoo wa probably their own worst enemies in the opening stages as they were forced to defend for long periods, however, the Knights were unable to breach the Jamberoo defence and it was the home side who were able open the scoring with a bit of Mark Asquith-magic.
From a scrum win close to the Knights line, Asquith was able to skirt wide and shrug off soft tackles to plunge over wide of the posts.
Inexplicably Daniel Burke's close-range conversion attempt thudded into the left upright and the Superoos led 4-nil.
Despite the setback, the Knights were able to hit back nine minutes later when Vazzoler was able to wrong-foot three Jamberoo defenders from 10 metres out to dive over and put his side in the lead with the close-range conversion.
Jamberoo had a major setback seven minutes from half-time when a scuffle broke out on halfway after an awkward tackle and Jamberoo replacement forward Kieran Pearce was dispatched to the sin-bin for 10 minutes, however once again the Superoo defence half firm as the Knights led 6-4 at half-time.
The home side couldn't have had a better start to the second half when from a scrum win centre Jake Clarke showed his trademark strength to power his way over out wide, however, Corey Grigg wasn't able to convert and Jamberoo led 8-6.
The game then resumed into the regular arm wrestle and it wasn't until the 72nd minute that the Knights got their next chance and after almost scoring under the posts were awarded a penalty in front of the posts and Vazzoler tied the scores at 8-all.
It was Vazzoler's moment again with two minutes remaining as he held his nerve to slot a close range field-goal to seal the points.
Kiama captain Kieran Poole won the official man of the match, while Tom Atkins, Josh Dowell and Tom Angel all produced strong work for the Knights, while Jake Clarke, Jayden Morgan, Simon Maslanka and Mark Asquith were the Superoos' best.
