Mudchooks Prepare For Finals Series
[ Saturday, 26 July 2008 ]

A competition bye meant no official match over the weekend, although with the finals series looming and a round bye this coming weekend, the Chooks maintained the impetus with a trial match against friendly rivals, the Bombala Blue Tongues. There was a great crowd to watch this impromptu match, but due to the cool weather blowing in off the snowy mountains, the majority took the vantage point from their cars around the field.

Bungendore received the ball from the kick off and were immediately met by some big defence. Although they hadn't played for over a year, the boys from Bombala were as keen as mustard to make a match of this one.

Bombala's scrum was as awesome as ever with ex-Mudchook, Vinnie Papalii propping up the side of the barn. There may be drought conditions down in the area, although there surely didn't appear to be any shortage of food. The Chooks knew they were in for a big game and stepped it up in the second quarter, scoring a couple of good tries.

Each quarter grew in intensity, but the usual vocal antics of coach, Matt (Basil) Grady, remained eerily silent. It was probably due to the fact that this time he had a number on his back and was in the thick of it for the full eighty minutes. It's the first full game he had played for more than ten years and he certainly did not let the team down. The Chooks had no reserves, so everyone had to stick it out for the full match. It got a bit tough, when the score started to get away from the Tongues and they started to put on some massive hits. Pete Payten wasn't able to do much after being hit by the earlier mentioned "Islander Bus".

The final score was 42-0, with Shaun Walcott getting a treble and special mention going to Jason (JB) Byron, who ran 30 metres, chipped, chased, regathered and outran the opposition full back to score in the corner. He then slotted the ball over, off his left boot, from the side-line in one of the most impressive five minutes of individual brilliance seen all year.

A great social night followed, with the local team and town very thankful to the Mudchook's efforts of travelling so far on a bye weekend to give them a run.

Don't forget to join the Chooks this Saturday (4.30pm) at the Bungendore Bowling and Sports Club for its inaugural Fundraising Hungi cooked by our own kiwi, Shane Botham. There will be great food, raffles and Wallabies vs. All Blacks on the big screen. See you there!