Sport
28 July, 2022
Snakes kept scoreless at home
LAST Saturday was just one of those days when nothing seemed to go right for the Caboolture Snakes, as they sank to their heaviest defeat of the Sunshine Coast Rugby Union (SCRU) season.
The second-placed Caloundra Lighthouses were too strong as they trounced the fifth-placed Snakes 47-0 at Caboolture Rugby Park.
The Snakes were out of finals contention but they had the incentive of giving their best on home soil as the occasion was a sponsors day.
As the field was wet underfoot, things began to go wrong for the hosts as they were penalised repeatedly.
Caboolture forwards Will Tanzer and Jake Harvey were yellow-carded in the space of five minutes during the first half, meaning the Snakes were down two players for several minutes.
A series of penalty goals gave Caloundra a 9-0 lead, before two converted tries stretched the scoreline to 23-0 at half-time.
A further two converted tries in the second half made the score 37-0 before the Lighthouses scored an unconverted try with about nine minutes left, and another unconverted try in the final seconds.
The hosts were pinned in their own half for most of the opening 40 minutes, courtesy of the penalty count and a superb kicking game from Lighthouses fly-half Mac Burgess.
Burgess and scrum-half Tom Roper were among Caloundra’s best performers while Tanzer, centre Kennedy ‘Junior’ Vaigafa and fullback Josh Ulk were rated the best for Caboolture.
Snakes assistant coach Wilson Enoka said “the boys dug deep” in the first half and put their bodies on the line.
“We just came out slow in the second half,” he said.
“Full credit to Caloundra. They’re a good quality side.”
Enoka said the Snakes seemed to slacken off in the last 20 minutes, and that “it’s been like that all season”.
“I don’t know if it’s fatigue kicking in, or we’re not used to that pressure,” he said.
Enoka felt there were some harsh decisions against the Snakes, particularly in the first half.
He said this was frustrating but that there was no use making excuses or complaining about things.
“If it wasn’t for them (the referees), we wouldn’t have a game of rugby,” he said.
“There’s always different opinions of it.”
Following the first grade match, the Caboolture and Caloundra rugby union clubs hung around for the charity auction.
More than $12,000 was raised to support Black Dog Institute and Motor Neurone Disease Queensland.
