Relentless Rams barge over Bulldogs
The Woden Valley Rams have claimed a dominant 58-18 victory over the Goulburn City Bulldogs at Phillip Oval.
The Woden Valley Rams were riding high on confidence after claiming a demanding 30-6 victory against last year’s grand finalists, the Tuggeranong Bushrangers, last weekend.
Despite wanting to bounce back after a loss to Yass last week, Goulburn couldn't contain the Rams as the home side crossed for a whopping 11 tries to Goulburn’s three.
The opening seven minutes of play consisted of heavy possession by Goulburn, with the Rams yet to touch the ball.
Woden were forced to showcase strong goal line defence, with Goulburn awarding themselves multiple repeat sets which they couldn’t capitalise on until William Russel finally broke through and scored the first try of the day.
The game was then flipped on its head, as Rams got within close range and halfback Brendan Jimenez threw an impressive cut-out ball to Sam Gash to score in the corner.
The Rams were determined to build off of this early success, as quick thinking from Daine Spencer assisted Gideon Afemui to score the Rams second try of the day. With another missed conversion, the Rams obtained a two-point lead with 25 minutes to go in the first half.
The Bulldogs were building a solid attacking set when an unforced error saw a pass hit the ground that Tom Scrivener scooped up and ran 60 metres to score another four pointer for the Rams.
Soon after, an impressive kick-return by Daine Spencer saw the Rams in close range once again. With Goulburn still catching up with play, Koko Salim found his way to the line through a one-off pass off the ruck.
Goulburn continued to struggle to regain possession, as the Ram’s continued to bulldoze down the field which saw Woden cross for two more quick tries through Ron Leapai and Sean Maloney closing in on halftime.
With thirty seconds remaining, Jimenez sealed off the first half scoring the Rams eighth consecutive try followed by another successful conversion by Gash to bring the scores to 38-6.
The second half followed a similar narrative to the first, with Goulburn unable to contain the speed and strike that the Rams boast in attack.
It was a slow and steady start upon returning to the field, with both teams struggling to get past each other’s defensive lines until Spencer picked up a grubber and went the length of the field untouched.
The Rams were quick to build on this momentum, with back-to-back tries from Jimenez and Gash, both scoring their second tries of the day.
Goulburn continued to struggle in defence and Jimenez cut through to score his hat-trick. With a successful conversion, the score read 58-6 with 12 minutes to go.
In the closing ten minutes, Goulburn scored back-to-back consolation tries through Jono Coterrill spinning out of a tackle and barging over the line, followed by Isaac Walker grubbering to himself and planting the ball over the line. With both tries converted, the final score of the day came to 58-18.
