"Morning Dew"
Cuckoos 27- Baillou 26
Once again many rugby fans gathered at the Winton Rugby Pitch on Saturday, 24th November, 2007, to witness the now rivalry between the Cuckoos and the Baillou Boys.
The Baillou boys started the match looking serious, moving the ball well plus imposing their will on the Cuckoos. Their efforts were rewarded when Charlie Rolle scored under the post fifty meters away aided by the Cuckoos who missed four tackles. Salabi converted giving the Baillou boys an early 7-0 lead. Ten minutes into the match the Cuckoos rucked the ball to Baillou’s five-meter line. Scrum half Matt Payton delivered a short pass to the fast moving, limping Brian Simms, who limped across the line for a try. Baker converted the score making it “7 all”. As the game became intense, an encounter erupted between Roberts of Baillou and Love of the Cuckoos, which resulted in Roberts having to leave the pitch with two deep lower lip cuts along with a few loose peggies. This encounter caused Baillou rugby fever to become high as they became very noticeable and more physical. Twenty minutes into the match, Nicky Stubbs scored a try from sixty meters out; again aided by poor, sour tackling. Salabi converted making the score 14-7 Baillou. Baillou continued to explore the morning dew like softness of the Cuckoos, as the Cuckoos’ forwards shamefully were unable to put no opposing player down, making ruby common sense look burdensome. Forwards not knowing how to present ball when tackled, Backs on contact simply throwing the ball away like a hot potato. Both Backs and Forwards seemingly forgetting that tackling is a part of the game. The line out lifters acting like they haven’t had a morsel of food to eat for days with weak, slow, lazy looking lifting of the jumpers. But matters could have been worse. Thanks to Justin, the only forward who seemed able or willing to put a lick on somebody. Thanks to Matt Payton who made a try saving tackle on Charlie Rolle, a tackle that three other Cuckoos should have made. Nevertheless, due to Baillou’s uncontrollable aggressiveness, it caused them 3 points via Baker’s foot making the score 14-10 Baillou. Minutes later, Timmy Thompson crashed a ball over from 10 meters out; again aided by questionable tacking giving Baillou a 21-10 halftime lead.
Witnessing the first half, Cuckoos own international star, Jamaal “Maple Leaf” Curry, fresh off a tour of rugby duty in Canada, left no stones unturned telling them how soft they looked, like overripe papayas.
In the 2nd half, the Cuckoos lifted their game most noticeably when Mario “Soldier” Rolle rucked the ball hard and well to the Baillou five-meter line and presented the ball well. Scrumhalf Matt Payton waiting for a forward to take a crash ball, but they seemed busy looking like they were posing for a beauty contest. Therefore Matt was forced to take the ball himself almost over the try line, and finally Andrew Bain picked up the ball and went over the line for a try, converted by Baker. Yet, still one must ask that close to the try line why no available Cuckoos forward wanted the ball. Were they afraid to get hit by a Baillou big waiting forward? All I could say, it look shameful, it looked very sheep like. Thirty minutes into the half, once again thanks to good straight hard running by Justin and Mario, the Cuckoos gained the lead 24-21 on a Brian Baker try and conversion. However, the Cuckoos lead was short lived as Baillou’s Salabi scored a try but missed the conversion giving the Baillou Boys a 26-24 lead. As the pressure mounted on the Cuckoos, knowing the clock was now their enemy, they finally began to look like ruggers, pressuring Baillou with good straight ball controlling running. Ball controlling that caused Baillou to commit to an offside error 30 meters out; a mistake that cause them to pay the piper dearly, as Baker split the uprights with his penalty kick giving the Cuckoos a 27-26 lead; a kick that proved to be the game winner, as the final whistle blew 2 minutes later.
Report by Chairmen 'Mac' McCartney