At the outset of the 2004 season, you'd have been hard pressed to convince anyone that one, let alone both, of these sides would be playing a role in the finals. But both Geelong and Colombo have shown this year that courage and tenacity make up for lack of star power in spades. Tonight's match, to decide who will play North Queensland, showcased just how true that is.

Geelong Bengals Colombo Harlequins
1 Dwayne Alvarez 1 Luke Phillips
2 David Razzle 2 Wes Davies
3 Nathan Grey 3 Aaron Moule
4 Tony Gonzalez 4 Dennis Hickie
5 Wes Patten 5 Graham Appo
6 Tim Donnelly 6 Fourcade Abasse
7 Kit Walker 7 Matt Dawson
8 Mauro Bergamasco 8 Anthony Himmler
9 Tony Grimaldi 9 Shane Millard
10 Warren Jowitt 10 Braden Mohammed
11 Tristan Davies 11 Martin Johnson
12 Takuro Miuchi 12 Damien Fields
13 Travis Norton © 13 Felipe Contempone ©
++Interchange
14 Agustin Pichot 14 Pascal Jampy
15 Vea Ofu 15 Doug Rumble
16 Justin Morgan 16 Jake Lamia
17 Trent Salkeld 17 Paul Johnson

Both sides showed early on that they had two things on their minds. The first was defence, with both sides giving as good as they got in the early exchanges. The second: nerves. Stupid errors kept both sides on their toes, with Colombo eventually scoring the first try of the game through prolific try-scorer, Graham Appo. The fullback capitalised on some uncharacteristically bad defence from the Bengals to score a soft try. Converted by Damien Fields, the Harlequins held a 6-0 lead after twelve minutes.

Less than three minutes later, the Harlequins seemed to have mastered their nerves, Martin Johnson powering across after a good Felipe Contempone short ball put him into a half gap. Fields again converted, and all of sudden the Bengals were really on the rack at 12-0 down. All signs were gradually pointing towards a blowout score, but the Bengals were quick to stem the flow of points. The injection of hard hitting Vea Ofu, and dangerous back, Trent Salkeld, stalled the Colombo attack and allowed the Bengals to fight back into the game. As halftime rapidly approached, the Bengals desperately sought a morale boosting try, but were repelled time after time by the Harlequins last ditch defence. Halftime sounded with Colombo up 12-0, and neither side entirely confident about their position in the game. Colombo's lead, though decent, had been marred by a poor second twenty- whilst Geelong players were undoubtedly questioning their ability to get the ball across the line.

HALFTIME: Geelong 0 trail Colombo 12

All signs in the early exchanges in the second half pointed to a Colombo victory, with two near tries and one disallowed in the opening ten minutes. The inevitable try came in the 50th minute, with Wes Davies finishing off a champagne backline movement that covered the better part of seventy five metres. Fields again converted, and it was a worrying 18-0 scoreline in favour of the visitors. The lead swelled again in the 53rd minute, with Anthony Himmler rampaging through some pathetic defence and charging downfield with support to burn. Even a despairing attempted tackle from Dwayne Alvarez couldn't stop the big German, who ran over the Geelong fullback to score a scintillating try. 24-0 became 30-0 only two minutes later, the Harlequins finishing a dominant ten minute period with Wes Davies' second try of the match. The Bengals had given up hope, with the fifth try of the game coming after Wes Davies picked up a carelessly dropped Tim Donnelly ball and literally strolled over to make it 30-0 with twenty remaining. Colombo's small contingent of fans were going crazy, whilst Melbournians slowly made their way out of Skilled Stadium.

The Harlequins could have dropped a gear and just coasted to victory, but instead went for a record win, their offense continually clicking and forcing the home side to make desperate tackles. The heavy deficit had a marked effect on the Bengal's attack, with even the most promising situations blown by stupid passes and attempts at catch up football. Dumb penalties compounded this, and lead to the Harlequins going further ahead when Luke Phillips was given a gift try by a miraculous Matt Dawson flick pass. The veteran fullback had a virtually untouchable path to the try line, and Fields' conversion had it at 36-0. Ninety seconds later, the Harlequins broke the forty point barrier, when Dennis Hickie ran on to a well timed Martin Johnson offload to score his side's seventh try of the match. Fields' conversion had it at a record setting 42-0 scoreline, one of the highest in Division Two finals' history.

From here, the Harlequins did clock off a little, but no one could fault their tireless defence in the last fifteen minutes. When fulltime sounded, the Harlequins had not only dominated offensively, but cast doubts over the theory that they were a defensively weak side.

FULLTIME

Colombo Harlequins 42
Luke Phillips
Denis Hickie
Graham Appo
Wes Davies 2
Martin Johnson
Anthony Himmler
Fields 7/7

defeated

Geelong Bengals 0
None

PoM Points
Luke Phillips..............3
Martin Johnson..........2
Pascal Jampy............1

Stats
Penalty Count
Geelong Bengals- 1 : 3 -Colombo Harlequins

Possession (%)
Geelong Bengals- 42 : 57 -Colombo Harlequins

Time in Opposition Half
Geelong Bengals- 29 : 51 -Colombo Harlequins

Handling Errors
Geelong Bengals- 17 : 13 -Colombo Harlequins

Completion Rate (%)
Geelong Bengals- 53 : 67 -Colombo Harlequins

Tackles
Geelong Bengals- 260 : 211 -Colombo Harlequins

Very happy with the win and quite surpised with the blowout scoreline. Bring on the next round.

congrats mate! i didnt expect to win but i expected to put up a fight, still i forgot to put my team in and i paid the price coz i see now that 3 injured players played lol, oh well, good luck on the rest of the finals, remember to get your team in!