Sports

Kapooka three-peat
By Cpl Andrew Hetherington

Edition 1162, March 22, 2007
 
Team spirit: Lt Michael McDonnell holds aloft the match ball in front of his team mates, the Sydney Engineers’ Rugby team, after the side won the Kapooka 10s rugby cup for a third year. Lt McDonnell was stretchered off in the final minutes of the game, but demanded he be allowed to take part in the celebrations.
Photo by Cpl Andrew Hetherington
SYDNEY Engineers’ Rugby team have scored a hat trick of Kapooka 10s titles by winning the 2007 rugby cup.

The team from SME went through the competition undefeated, beating the Riverina Army Rugby Club Kapooka (RARC) 15-5 in a tight, hard-fought grand final on March 10.

Sydney Engineers coach Maj Don Philpots said the team knew it would be tough to retain the title that they won in 2005 and 2006.

RARC scored an early try to lead at the end of the first quarter.

“They were looking pretty good around the breakdown at this stage, but I thought we were up to the challenge,” Maj Philpots said.

The Sydney Engineers struck back to make it five-all at half-time. In the second half, they came out strongly to score in hot and difficult conditions.

“We knew we had the measure on them and knew we could beat them up front,” Maj Philpots said. “Our backs were constantly looking to find the gaps and they did. “

The match finished in an unusual way with the final few minutes of play being abandoned after Sydney Engineers’ player Lt Michael McDonnell was hit after kicking the ball ahead.

“Unfortunately he was taken off the field with only a minute-and-a-half left to play. When the horn sounded the referee blew his whistle and the game was over,” Maj Philpots said.

This did not stop the team from including Lt McDonnell in their after-match celebrations. Before he was taken for medical examination he and the team requested photographs be taken. Lt McDonnell was presented with the match ball.

Standout players for the Sydney Engineers team were Lt Alby Lombard, Royal New Zealand Engineers; Lt Jack Plimmer, SME; and Capt Brad Heskett, AHQ.

Maj Philpots said his team’s effort was outstanding because most of the players were attending the ROBC and had only trained together for just over a week.

“It was a great day for the side and engineers’ rugby. They listened, learned and put simple drills into action and played each of them very well,” he said.

In another impressive Army performance in the nine-team three-tier competition, the Incident Response Regiment team from Holsworthy won the Bowl final 25-15 against the Border Army Rugby Club from Albury and Wodonga.

The team from 6RAR fought hard, but went down 34-5 to the HMAS Cerberus team in the Plate final, and the experienced Kapooka Vikings reached the Cup semi-finals but lost 19-12 to the eventual competition winners, Sydney Engineers.