A much-needed win in the wet
“We are going to celebrate and enjoy it, but look to focus quickly on our next opponent, Manly, who we travel to this Saturday,” says Daniel King.
Following two tough losses and plenty of hard work at training, the Maccabi Blues bounced back strongly in round five of the Jeffrey Cup last Saturday on their soggy Burrows Park home ground, earning their third win of the season with a 33-26 result against the Sydney Convicts.
Maccabi got off to a blistering start when left side winger Daniel King beat two defenders to score a try in the corner, after latching onto a beautifully weighted pass from centre Adam Amoils.
They kept the pressure with strong defence, drawing mistakes from their opponents.
Well-executed backline moves by Maccabi led to further first half tries to fullback Daniel Soroka and left flanker Jake Gamerov.
Fly half and goal kicker Chad Bobrow – who ended up nailing four of his five conversion attempts by full-time – put in a clever kick from behind the defensive line to create the Blues’ fourth try, setting up King for his second try, running past the opposition to ground the ball in the in-goal area.
Ethan Agosin was immense in the defensive department, making crucial momentum-shifting tackles, and Aaron Stern was dominant in the line-outs, securing possession time and gain in far from favourable conditions.
Maccabi scored four tries to the Convicts’ two in the first half, but the latter fought back early in the second half, scoring back-to-back tries to come straight back into contention.
A yellow card to one of their players, for an illegal tackle, saw the Convicts down a man for 10 minutes, and sniffing an opportunity in that period to seal victory, a fit and hungry Maccabi outfit struck in their next attacking raid.
Bobrow put in a crafty grubber kick towards the left corner and ready as ever to chase it, King sped past and beat his opposing winger to the ball, to score his third try.
Agosin, with his immense tackling efforts all game and some decisive carries to gain valuable metres up the middle, was named Man of the Match.
Another factor in their wet weather win was dominating the scrums, with Maccabi’s forward pack led by front rowers Josh Hoffman, Sean Jankelowitz and Nick Christou and the reliable Harrison Lloyd-Levy, regularly getting on top.
Hat-trick hero King said, “Full credit to the lads for the win.
“We are going to celebrate and enjoy it, but look to focus quickly on our next opponent, Manly, who we travel to this Saturday.”
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