YOUNG’S Jack Hetherington, 17, has returned home from Saturday’s Group 9 versus Group 20 match as one of the key players in his team’s victory.
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A lightning fast Group Nine outfit put on a dominant first half to ensure the Kelly Cup remained firmly in its grasp, scoring a 44-28 win over Group 20 at Equex, Wagga.
Group Nine led by 28 points at half-time before a second-half comeback from Group 20 put some respectability back onto the scoreboard.
Starting front-row forwards Mitch Davis and Scott Matthews, and replacements Andrew Cowhan and Rulon Nutira, dominated the first half, providing the perfect platform for the Group Nine backs.
After opening the scoring through Jeremy Woods, Group 20 were starved of possession in the first half and Group Nine made them pay, scoring seven first half tries.
Group Nine coach Daniel Fitzhenry came into the match looking to dominate possession and achieved that in the first half.
"When we got the ball we tried to starve them of it, hold it as much as we could and at the back end of the first half they were struggling a bit fitness-wise and we capitalised," Fitzhenry said.
"We knew they were going to start fast and we had one set and they had four or five and if you give them the ball they are going to punish you as they did in the second half."
Centre Hetherington scored a first half hat-trick, while on the other edge Peter Little crossed for a first-half double.
Fullback Ben Jeffery scored a brilliant try during the first-half onslaught when hooker Glenn Dumbrell made an immediate impact coming off the bench, charged out of dummy half into open space to find Jeffery in the middle of the field who ran past opposing fullback Brandon Kerry to score.
Trailing 34-6 with three minutes to go, Group 20 took advantage of a rare opportunity in attack with Josh Bryant scoring but Hetherington hit back just before the break to hand Group Nine a 38-10 lead at the break.
Little continued the onslaught just after the break to bring up his hat-trick but from then on Group 20 dominated the second half.
Replacement forward Michael Ioape barged over for three second-half tries including a juggling effort from close range where he managed to contain the ball between his legs before going over to score.
Possession swung towards Group 20 in the second-half as Fitzhenry started to tinker with his team.
"In the second half I think the boys switched off and all credit to Group 20 they came back and we were lucky that the time ran out," Fitzhenry said.
"In the first half we held the ball and in the second half we didn't, and all the points were scored by whoever held the ball."
Fitzhenry will now be in charge of the Riverina squad ahead of the start of the Country Championships.
Playing in Tier 2 of the competition, Riverina will tackle Northern Riverina at Singleton on May 31.
As expected Group Nine dominated the squad with 12 of the 18 players coming from the victorious team.
Group Nine were undefeated in the Under 18s and Under 16s matches against Group 20 and Canberra, while Group 20 were too strong in the leaguetag with a 22-4 win.
RIVERINA SQUAD
Luke Berkery (Cootamundra)
Josh Bryant (Yenda)
Mitch Davis (Albury)
Daniel Fitzhenry (Southcity) (captain/coach)
Lou Goodwin (Albury)
Jack Hetherington (Young)
Ben Jeffery (Albury)
Jaden Kelly (TLU)
Trenton King (TLU)
Peter Little (Southcity)
Scott Matthews (Temora)
Rulon Nutira (Gundagai)
Nathan Rose (Southcity)
Matt Sauni (Gundagai)
Tom Sellars (Yenda)
Nick Skinner (Southcity)
Johnny Teleaga (Waratahs)
Jeremy Woods (West Wyalong)
