Erindale advance to PMC semi-finals after Golden Point victory
Erindale College will advance to the PMC semi-finals after a 28-24 Golden Point victory over Endeavour SHS at Windsor on Wednesday afternoon.
Ethan Alaia was the difference maker, threatening the defence all day before making an incredible line break to set-up the match winning try in golden point.
Click here to watch a replay of the match.
Endeavour SHS were on the board early, capitalising on an early penalty which put them on the attack.
Bailey Leach found some space to score in the right corner after some handy service from Endeavour halfback Bryce Sait to lead 6-nil after 3 minutes.
Erindale hit back immediately through Olli Bolatagici, who chased through an early Sam Gash chip kick to plant the ball down in the corner.
Gash converted from the far touchline to level the scores 6-all.
Erindale forward Mathais Tomuli Ah-Kuoi continued his impressive first half stint by crashing over right under the posts in the 12th minute, courtesy of a great ball from Cacciotti. Gash converted from right infront to extend their first lead to 12-6.
Endeavour began to build some pressure after an Erindale error.
Right off the scrum, halfback Sait threw a flat short ball to Kaden Garner to go over untouched right under the black dot.
Sait didn't have any troubles with the conversion, drawing the scores level again at 12-all heading into the halftime break.
Erindale came out in the second half with intent to throw the ball around, but a few early errors opened the door for the opposition to strike.
They did just that through a powerful run from Thomas Dellow who broke the line and beat the fullback to score. Sait had no problems with the conversion, giving Endeavour an 18-12 lead after 33 minutes.
Xavier Cacciotti took matters into his own hands, the Australian Schoolboy number nine holding up the defence with a dummy to run 90 metres, to be brought down right before the line.
Jesse Millin then stormed onto the ball to drag five defenders over the line and score to level the game for the third time. Gash converted to draw the scores 18-all with 15 minutes to go.
Bryce Sait continued his incredible performance, taking the ball to the line to place a pin point grubber for Kalan Ngaika to score under the sticks. Endeavour jumped back in front 24-18 with ten minutes to go.
Ethan Alaia finally found some space for Erindale, to break through the line. Alaia looked to link up with Cacciotti, but the ball was knocked down by Dellow to prevent the try.
With a fresh set of six, Mark Tuialii got some early ball and scored an incredible try to score in the final minutes. Gash made no problems with the conversion, putting the pressure kick over the black dot to level scores 24-all.
Both sides had one last roll of the dice, throwing the ball around to both be denied match winning tries thanks to some outstanding scrambling defence.
Nothing could seperate the two as we enter Golden Point at 24-all. Endeavour SHS would win the toss and elect to kick-off.
Ethan Alaia was the star of the show, breaking the defence on tackle two, to beat the fullback and pop an incredible one-arm flick pass to Alex Sweeney to score just seconds into Golden Point.
Fulltime: Erindale College 28 (Tries: Bolatagici, Tomuli Ah-Kuoi, Millin, Tuialii, Alaia; Goals: Gash 4) def Endeavour SHS 24 (Tries: Leach, Garner, Dellow, Ngaika; Goals: Sait 4)
Image by Richard Dobson
