After last week's epic victory over Adelaide in extra time, this year's finals' fairytale continues this week: with the seventh placed Ravens meeting up with first placed and red hot Gold Coast. Both sides would be at full strength, with the winner progressing to the Grand Final to face either Northern or Wellington.
Gold Coast Crusade Capetown Ravens
1 Maleky O'Connor 1 Lance Rhodes
2 Tommy O'Reilly 2 Robbie Ross
3 Aaron Mauger 3 Martin Gleeson
4 Matthew Gidley 4 Brian Lima
5 Ade Gardner 5 Luke Rooney
6 Matt Orford 6 Michael Withers
7 Andrew Johns © 7 Derek Gateshead
8 Josh Perry 8 Jeremy Paul
9 Danny Buderus 9 Malcolm Alker
10 Stuart Fielden 10 Todd Payten
11 Bryan Fletcher 11 Travis Elken
12 Ruben Wiki 12 Mike Forshaw
13 Scott Sattler 13 Andy Farrel ©
++Interchange
14 Chris Flannery 14 Jerome Ropati
15 Steve Simpson 15 Barrie McDermott
16 Karl Pratt 16 David Kidwell
17 Michael Wainwright 17 Brett Stewart
It was a scrappy opening to the game, with both sides making some fundamental errors largely through nerves. While many expected the experienced Crusade side (who have played in every finals' series since 2001) to settle into the game first, the opposite was true, with the plucky Ravens producing some good defence to counteract the sloppy handling. The first try of the match took less than ten minutes to eventuate, with young halfback Derek Gatshead finishing off a movement started by Gold Coast bound Luke Rooney. A seventy metre set of six, the highlight of which was a clean Rooney bust, lead to Gateshead sliding over out wide. Another Crusade bound player, Andy Farrell, narrowly missed the difficult conversion to leave the margin at 4-0.
The try instilled plenty of courage and confidence in the underdog Ravens, and their defensive intensity increased as a result of this. The Crusade, who enjoyed such an easy run in their quarter final against Central Coast, found themselves unable to make the soft metres they're used to making. This good defence began to wear down the Crusade, and the Ravens' lead was extended in the 11th minute when Derek Gateshea crossed for his second try of the match. A big break and an impressive metre gain laid the platform, and this time Gateshead was able to skip out of a weak Matt Gidley tackle and run it closer to the posts. Andy Farrell struck the easier conversion sweetly to give the visitors a shock 10-0 lead. The Crusade faithful were stunned, but not silenced.
Finals are won on defence, and the Ravens showed they had that in spades in the following twenty minutes of play. Even the most impressive passages of play, started by Andrew Johns and Danny Buderus mostly, were unable to crack the last line of defence. In fact, the Ravens's scrambling defence was commendable throughout a close fought first half. Halftime came with neither side able to cross the whitewash again, and with Ravens' spirits high after weathering several late incursions from the Crusade.
HALFTIME: Gold Coast 0 trail Capetown 10
The second half started in the same vein as the first- with the Crusade throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the Ravens' tenacious defence. However, the Crusade lifted their own defensive quality a notch to match their opposition, and came achingly close to scoring their first try of the match when Mike Forshaw was forced into touch. From the ensuing scrum, Michael Wainwright ran through a gap and cantered right to the Ravens' ten. Scrambling defence again prevailed, and despite a brilliant Johns' bomb at the end of the set- the Crusade were still unable to score.
The Ravens immediately returned the favour, but went one better, with an eighty five metre set of six finished when Michael Withers soared above the opposition to score his side's third try of the match. Gateshead's fine game continued, his spiralling bomb disorienting inexperienced Maleky O'Connor and allowing Withers to snare a potentially match winning try. The conversion had it at 16-0 in Capetown's favour, with half an hour of play remaining. Time enough for a fightback, at which the Crusade are world renowned, but not if the Ravens' defence maintained its intensity.
The visitors all but assured themselves of a maiden Grand Final birth in the 55th, when big Barrie McDermott was given a gift try after Lance Rhodes tore the heart out of the Crusade defence and offloaded to the veteran prop. McDermott and Rhodes, both retiring at season's end, celebrated as they perhaps steered their side to the ideal finish to a season. Farrell's conversion saw the shellshocked Crusade trailing 22-0 with just over a quarter of the game remaining.
The Gold Coast Crusade were denied a potentially comeback inspiring try in the 60th, when a promising backline movement ended up with Irish international Tommy O'Reilly dancing down the sideline and outmuscling Robbie Ross to score. However, the video referee ruled that O'Reilly's left foot had brushed the sideline, and the try was disallowed. A Crusade fightback would need those 50/50 calls to go its way.
That was the Crusade's one and only real scoring opportunity of the game, a tribute to just how unbelievably strong the Ravens' defence had been. As fulltime sounded, a dejected Crusade outfit left the field with many of its players in tears. They had gone in as raging hot favourites, and would now have to go back and start afresh. The Ravens, however, became the lowest placed side to ever make the Grand Final in Premier League.
FULLTIME
Capetown Ravens 22
Derek Gateshead 2
Barrie McDermott
Michael Withers
Farrell 3/4
defeated
Gold Coast Crusade 0
None
PoM Points
Brian Lima.................3
Andy Farrell...............2
Derek Gateshead.......1
Stats
Penalty Count
Gold Coast Crusade- 4 : 3 -Capetown Ravens
Possession (%)
Gold Coast Crusade- 46 : 54 -Capetown Ravens
Time in Opposition Half
Gold Coast Crusade- 41 : 39 -Capetown Ravens
Handling Errors
Gold Coast Crusade- 21 : 21 -Capetown Ravens
Completion Rate (%)
Gold Coast Crusade- 57 : 56 -Capetown Ravens
Tackles
Gold Coast Crusade- 241 : 230 -Capetown Ravens
