The final weekend in August always holds an air of excitement in Tigertown, as it represents Grand Final weekend. The Big Dance, the Big Show whatever your preference two Tiger teams are playing in this years Grand Finals. The U9 Bronze played the Gorillas for the Premiership and the U13 Silvers were taking on the Seagulls.
In a remarkable weekend for the Tigers both teams won their final and were crowned Premiers. In a fantastic season for the Tigers 80% of eligible teams qualified for the finals, 40% made it to the Grand Final and of those 100% were crowned Premiers, read more below and check out the galleries to see all the action from the day.
Tigers U9 28 Gymea Gorillas 26
The Tigers got off to the perfect start, with Archer Brassington collecting the ball from the kick-off and running through the Gorillas defence to score and give the Tigers a 6-0 lead. The Gorillas got the scores level on their first set and it was a positive start from both teams. The Tigers scored again after some patient build-up play, working the ball through hands and creating space for Lachlan Couley to step through the Gorillas defence and put the Tigers ahead 12-6. Both teams started to make mistakes, with the tension of the game obviously getting to the players, however this was relieved somewhat when Charlotte Dart made a clever break and out run the defence to score in the corner and give the Tiger a 16-6 lead. The Tigers were tackling ferociously against their bigger opponents and were looking solid up the middle. A lucky call gave the Gorillas six again and they made the advantage pay scoring to go in at half-time with the Tigers ahead 16-12.
The third quarter was a tight affair with both teams tackling strongly and few chances being created, until in the final minute the Gorillas made a good break and scored in the corner to take an 18-16 lead. The Gorillas had the momentum and they scored quickly in the fourth quarter, regathering the ball from the kick-off and working a run around to score in the corner and go out to a 22-16 lead. If the Gorillas thought they were going to run away with the game in the final minutes, the Tigers had different ideas and Zac May stepped through the defence and then outpaced the covering defenders to get the scores level at 22-22.
However, with minutes to go the Gorillas thought they had scored the winner going 26-22 ahead and with just over one minute to play we were set for a grandstand finish. Archer Brassington took the kick-in and he managed to find a gap in the Gorillas defence and then ran down the touch line, evading tackles and managing to stay in play and score in the corner to get both teams level again at 26-26. Hayden Walker demanded to have the conversion and he gathered the ball and kicking tee and went through his kicking routine. He lined up the ball, stepped back confidently and then hit the ball sweetly over the black dot and give the Tigers a 28-26 lead and the victory.
Tigers U13 Silver 34 Brighton Seagulls 4
Both teams started well, working through their sets and defending well. The Tigers scored first from a great kick from Ethan Coleman, who pinned the Seagulls in their in-goal and from the kick-in Hudson Wilcox collected the ball, spotted a gap and dived over to put the Tigers 4-0 ahead. The Seagulls scored soon after when a mistake gave the Seagulls decent field position and then a kick wasn't collected by the Tigers back-line allowing the Seagulls wide men to cross and get the scores level at 4-4. The Tigers regathered the ball from the kick-off and from the resultant scrum, neat play by the Tigers put Mason De Luca into a gap and he ran through it to score under the posts and give the Tigers a 10-4 half-time lead.
In the second half the Tigers got the perfect start with Tom Fraser collecting the ball and then running through the Seagulls defence to score under the posts and give the Tigers a 16-4 lead. The Tigers were beginning to find space and the pace of their backs was worrying the Seagulls defence who didn't have too many answers. Ethan Coleman was controlling the middle and his kicking game was giving the Tigers good field position from which to attack. On one such play, the Tigers went left through Flynn Rankin and then a quick switch got the ball to Lewis Amesbury, who stepped through the tiring forwards before sprinting down the sideline to score and put the Tigers 22-4 ahead. The Tigers were starting to enjoy their work and another close effort got the Tigers to the Seagulls 10 metre line and clever play by Billy Dunn saw him dive over from dummy half and give the Tigers a 28-4 lead. Soon after the Tigers scored again with another clever kick from Ethan Coleman, that evaded the Seagulls defenders and Zac Porter chased the ball down and managed to dive on the ball before it went dead.The try gave the Tigers a 34-4 victory in an impressive team performance.
Two Premiership winning teams and a season to remember for the Tigers. We would love to thank everyone who supported the teams today, you made a significant difference. Thanks to everyone involved with the club and we are off the celebrate.
