A sold out crowd gathered at Carara Stadium to see Gold Coast do battle with this year's surprise packets, the Darwin Cyclones. The Cyclones' recent form slump had bookies rushing to write them off, but with a full strength side and the atmosphere of the finals- it's possible for any side to get up on their day.
Gold Coast Crusade Darwin Cyclones
1 Billy Slater 1 Timothy Rice
2 Shannon O'Reilly 2 Mirco Bergamasco
3 Tommy O'Reilly 3 Tana Umaga
4 Matthew Gidley 4 Justin Hodges
5 Rupeni Caucaunibuca 5 Lote Tuqiri
6 Jonny Wilkinson 6 Red Apokalips
7 Andrew Johns © 7 Matt Orford
8 Danny Nutley 8 Rene Engelhardt
9 Danny Buderus 9 Richard Swain
10 Jason Cayless 10 Richard Villasanti
11 Daniel Abraham 11 Barry Liverpool
12 Steve Simpson 12 Blaze Wilson ©
13 George Smith 13 Patrick Varune
++Interchange
14 Karl Pratt 14 Michael Wainwright
15 Tyler Durden 15 Mark Merideth
16 Josh Perry 16 Edward Talanaga
17 Ryan Girdler 17 Steve Prescott
The crowd got on its feet as Andrew Johns got the game underway, but it was Darwin who showed all of the early enthusiasm. The backline, particularly Umaga and Tuqiri, made plenty of metres with hard running- whilst the Crusade backs seemed a little tired. Enthusiasm seemed to be the key difference between the two sides, with Darwin's inexperienced squad getting right up in the Crusade players' faces to force errors. In particular, Blaze Wilson's tackle that put Jonny Wilkinson into touch was inspirational.
It was fitting then, for the Cyclones to be the first to score and turn all of their enthusiasm into points. A poor set of attack from Gold Coast turned possession over in good position, and the Cyclones rucked it out with some simple yet effective football. Only three tackles into their set they scored, Patrick Varune flipping a ball out in the tackle to put Timothy Rice in. Apokalips landed the conversion to make it 6-0 after twelve minutes.
They say bad luck comes in twos, and it certainly did for the Crusade. An awful kickoff put Darwin right back on the attack, and Timothy Rice capped a memorable first fifteen by scoring his second try. The try was pure numbers, with the Darwin players getting outside their men before sending it wide for the young fullback to score his second in as many minutes. Apokalips hit the much more difficult conversion to put the Darwin side ahead 12-0. The fans were understandably shellshocked.
Another kick-off, and another desperate situation for the reigning premiers. Richard Swain cut the line cleanly on the return, and the matter was compounded when Jonny Wilkinson was penalised for being offside from marker. The resultant kick put Darwin on the attack again- and Matt Orford darted across to score Darwin's third try. Fifteen minutes gone, and the visitors held a shock 18-0 lead. The Crusade, who had gone into the match so confident, were being made to look like an under eights team.
Thankfully for Crusade fans and officials, the defence muscled up after leaking three tries in four minutes, and the resulting possession allowed Gold Coast to stablise a little. Ryan Girdler's injection into the game was particularly fruitful, the experienced centre calming down the jittery backline. The 20th minute gave Gold Coast fans what they'd been waiting twenty minutes to see- Danny Buderus fooling the defence, slicing through, and racing thirty metres to score his side's opening try. Andrew Johns wasn't slow in converting, and the scoreline looked a little less embarassing at 18-6 down.
Fortunes turned when the Crusade conceded four consecutive penalties only minutes later, including George Smith being cautioned after his involvement in a minor brawl with Richard Villansanti and Barry Liverpool. Despite the weight of possession against them, the Crusade held out for four sets of six before Matt Orford and Red Apokalips combined to crack them. Apokalips skipped out of a tackle and offloaded to a flying Orford, who jinked downfield to score his second try. Apokalips' conversion had things looking grim again at 24-6 in favour of the underdogs.
The free flowing style of the game meant it was impossible to write the Crusade off, and true to form, they bounced back with their second try in the 32nd minute. In Darwin's worst defensive set of the game, contributed to by near exhaustion, the Crusade made easy metres before a long Johns pass put Tommy O'Reilly over in the corner untouched. Andrew Johns calmly knocked over the difficult conversion to make it 24-12 and again peg the margin back to twelve.
It was a night for tries from the kick-off, the Crusade getting in off their return set courtesy of Jonny Wilkinson. With defense starting to tire after some intense first quarter football, Wilkinson was given a gift try when some lazy markers opened up a channel to the tryline. Johns again converted, and suddenly the game was on with the score at 24-18 only six minutes out from halftime.
The interchanges flew thick and fast as both sides tried to stem the flow of points with fresh reserves, and it looked to have worked when the final five minutes were scoreless. However, after the siren for the break had gone, the Cyclones got in again when Barry Liverpool took a quick tap from an offside penalty and strolled over. The Crusade players complained that halftime had been called, but Apokalips rubbed salt into the wound with a conversion.
HALFTIME: Gold Coast 18 trail Darwin 30
Something would need to be done, and done fast, if the Crusade had any hope of coming from behind and sinking the Cyclones who had outplayed and outenthused the reigning premiers. The opening ten minutes showed that both sides had been given a spray for their defensive intensity (or lack thereof)- but the weight of possession on the back of some penalties gave Gold Coast an ideal chance to get back into the game. 2002 grand final hero (for North Melbourne) Matthew Gidley did it all himself, cutting through the line and fooling the fullback to race in out wide. Johns missed his first of the night, but put his side behind by eight- the Cyclones leading 30-22 after fifty minutes of play.
The try sparked something for the Crusade, whilst it seemed to dishearten the already tired Darwin pack. From the ensuing set of six they forced an error, only to have the Crusade win it against the feed and go straight back on the attack. The Darwin forwards, lead ably by Richard Swain in defence, managed to repel two sets of six and force an error. The nightmare continued, however, with the Crusade defence monstering the Cyclones. Orford salvaged something with a good clearing kick- Billy Slater almost pinned in goal by a vigorous chase. Even this came back to bite the fast fading Cyclones, Slater's desperate pass finding an unmarked Rupeni Caucaunibuca. The big Fijian rampaged down the sideline before being dragged down fifteen out. The Crusade rucked out three tackles before O'Reilly was put in for his second try- the pass a carbon copy of the one that he'd scored off earlier. Johns again converted, and the margin was the closest it had been all game- the Crusade trailing 30-28 and coming home with wind in their sails.
O'Reilly put another nail in Darwin's coffin from the kick-off, running at the line before cockily chipping ahead for himself. Darwin fans breathed a sigh of relief as Rice disarmed a volatile situation- only for the referee to penalise Darwin after it was ruled O'Reilly had been taken out of play. While coach Chris Walker-Bush roared at the Crusade to shoot for a draw, Johns tapped and ran it. It paid immediate dividends, Daniel Abraham cutting the line cleanly from the first hit up, before stepping the fullback and jogging in under the posts. Johns converted, and the huge crowd went crazy as the Crusade went to a 34-30 lead.
It certainly was a half of contrasts. Where the Crusade had been lacklustre for the first forty, they now looked like world-beaters. Conversely, the Cyclones turned into the side that had underachieved for so long. Even stars such as Orford and Tuqiri seemed to crawl back into their shells- a situation made worse when Karl Pratt got outside Mirco Bergamasco and embarked on a dangerous downfield run. Rice again proved invaluable, making a covering tackle and saving the Cyclones for the time being. It didn't matter much, Johns faking a long ball towards Tommy O'Reilly's wing before grubbering in the opposite direction for Shannon O'Reilly. The Irish international celebrated what could possibly have been the match winning try as Johns knocked another conversion over to make it 40-30.
The game was well and truly over when Billy Slater scored with ten minutes to go. Big Josh Perry monstered his way through the defence and flipped it back on the inside to allow Billy Slater an unguarded path to the line. The Adelaide bound fullback was never threatened in his run to the line- Timothy Rice looking on in despair as the score blew out to 46-30. The tears weren't coming yet, but the Cyclones' players knew their season was as good as over.
A 76th minute try to Tana Umaga salvaged some honour from an otherwise horrifying second half, the scoreline finishing at 46-36 in the highest scoring game in ASRL finals' history.
FULLTIME
Gold Coast Crusade 46
Billy Slater
Shannon O'Reilly
Tommy O'Reilly 2
Matthew Gidley
Daniel Abraham
Jonny Wilkinson
Danny Buderus
Johns 7/8
defeated
Darwin Cyclones 36
Tana Umaga
Matt Orford 2
Timothy Rice 2
Barry Liverpool
Apokalips 6/6
PoM Points
Tommy O'Reilly.........3
Shannon O'Reilly.......2
Andrew Johns............1
