Mudcrabs show class in solid win over JCU
MUDCRABS showed no signs of rust after a disjointed month of rugby, hitting their straps in attack, defence and dominating the scrum against JCU in a warning shot to their FNQ Rugby rivals.
The Crabs won 33-12 in the only fixture of Round 3 on Saturday as Innisfail and Wanderers both forfeited their matches.
Andrew Derrington would have forgiven his side for starting slowly but was thrilled to see them come out firing, scoring two tries in the first half as Mudcrabs romped to a bonus point win.
Training had been focused on fluidity with the ball in hand and playing with “the big picture” in mind and Derrington said his side well and truly delivered.
“I was expecting them to be a bit rusty but they actually came out and played exceptionally well,” he said.
“I guess the only thing was the fitness wasn’t quite there.
“We just dominated in the scrum and put a lot of pressure on JCU but the best thing from my perspective was our attacking structure.
“The second half we scored early and we sort of went away from our game plan and then they scored a really good long range try and got a bit of a roll on but I was proud of the boys, they were able to snuff it out.”
The biggest downside was being on the wrong end of a 16-6 penalty count, but Derrington said it was justified and gave Mudcrabs something to work on before their match against Wanderers next weekend.
In the 3-2-1, three votes went to Callum Beasley (Mudcrabs), two votes to Christian Arhua (JCU) and one to Sam Taylor (Mudcrabs).
FNQ Rugby operations manager John Pirie said it was unfortunate to have two teams forfeit, although pointed to reduced player numbers in other codes as a sign it was not just a rugby union issue.
“There’s a much bigger problem out there. The problem is in all sports,” he said.
Pirie said FNQ Rugby was looking at initiatives to recruit more players across the competition.
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