Promising road ahead
Clydesdales split pair of rep fixtures
RUGBY LEAGUE: The Toowoomba Clydesdales came out of Saturday’s matches against Brisbane Wests with hope for the representative season ahead.
A commanding win in the opening game saw the Clydesdales gallop away to a 46-4 victory against the visitors second string team, while Brisbane Wests prevailed 20-12 in the second match.
Toowoomba opted to spread their talent evenly across the two sides, and the divide was on show in the opening fixture according to coach Ned Murphy.
“They did what they should with that sort of team. It was good to see them play well and I’m glad they won like that,” Murphy said.
“We dropped it a bit early on and they kept it close. You expect a bit of dropped ball in a trial from a team that has had just one training session together.
“We were ahead 16-4 at halftime and weren’t too far ahead.
“In the second half we held the ball, completed sets and blew them away.”
With four out of the seven backline players representing Gatton, Murphy said they combined to effect to help extend the scoreline.
“Daniel Jennings went well in the centres and both halves (Hayden Lipp and Luke Nolan) played good also,” he said.
“Ty Gardner and Mitch Duff from Wattles were strong, as was Harry Sullivan.
“Corey Blades was good at the back and it was good to see Mitch Watson and Nick van der Poel get their first test at that sort of level.”
The going was tougher for the Clydesdales against the best Brisbane Wests had to offer.
Despite going down, Murphy said there were plenty of positives to take from the effort.
“We didn’t complete our sets, and they were really good at the wrestle and controlled the ruck fairly well,” he said.
“They were getting three and four into the tackle where we were only getting one or two. We spent a lot of the game tackling, which is tough in the heat at this time of year.
“The effort was excellent though, and that will improve with the polish of more games together.
“We scored first and looked good, but barely touched the ball after about the 16-minute mark, and trailed 16-12 at the break.”
The next Clydesdales team will be picked early this week ahead of their clash with the South West Emus on Saturday, however Murphy said there were a number of selection headaches ahead.
“It was a good lead-up to the weekend. We didn’t flog anybody with minutes,” he said.
“A lot of young fellas got a game, and haven’t made my job easier for this weekend or for the 47th Battalion later in the year.”