Southern Inland extended its dominance over its closest rivals with a 49-7 win over Monaro in the final game of the Brumbies Provincial Tournament at Conolly Rugby Complex on Monday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Rams fired from the beginning as Monaro had no answers for its dominant display.
Albury’s superiority was also on show with all seven Southern Inland tries coming courtesy of Steamers players.
Player of the tournament Liam Krautz crossed for a double as did James Olds.
Wagga City’s James Curgenven was the only non-Albury player on the scoreboard with six conversions.
An early error forced by captain Richard Manion set the tone for the match, as Southern Inland dominated in every aspect of the game.
While Manion was forced from the field after splitting his eye in the collision, Southern Inland didn’t suffer too much in his short absence.
Albury’s new South African recruit Lex Botha soon had Southern Inland on the scoreboard.
The centre has too much speed for his rivals, as he shot through a gap to score from 20 metres out.
Albury teammate Ash Leferve doubled SIRU’s advantage when he scored from close range before both teams settled into the game.
Monaro had chances to hit back, but couldn’t find any inroads due to Southern Inland’s brutal defence.
Showing a big improvement from the 75-3 win over South Coast on Saturday, the defensive effort was one of the most pleasing aspects for coach Richard Turnbull.
“Defensively it was really good as they kept them scoreless for a while,” he said.
“They couldn’t find a way to get through which was really good.”
Botha had a big hand in his team’s third try with his offload putting Krautz in under the posts as Curgenven kicked truly for a 21-0 just on half-time.
Olds then put his mark on the game with a brilliant try early in the second half.
Scooping up a bad pass on his knees, Olds got off the deck and danced past three defenders to score.
Leeton centre Farrel Moata replaced Botha and had an immediate effect, forcing an error before four plays later slipping an inside ball to put Manion into a gap to score SIRU’s fifth try.
Manion then sent Krautz over before Monaro was finally able to crack SIRU’s defence when Stan Williams charged over the line late.
Monaro captain David Akkersdyk shone on a poor day for his team.
SOUTHERN INLAND 49 (L Krautz 2, J Olds 2, L Botha, A Leferve, R Manion tries; J Curgenven 6, J Olds cons) d MONARO 7 (S Williams try; J Roarty con)
