13th May, 2006
Roos keep charging against Swindon
by Adam Bennett

Three wins out of three now for the IX Europe Roos, after a hard fought victory against a competitive Swindon team and Hurricane Audrey. The wind was piling straight across King's Meadow and made life difficult for both teams through all four quarters.

The elemental assault failed to stop the Roos improvement though, as the drills dished out in training continued to pay dividends on match day. The protection of the ball and carrier is getting better and better each week, making it much easier to hit the ever improving Roos forward line.

There was also a welcome back for Coach Brent Barton, after missing the first couple of games. The Roos centre, already a fearsome line-up, is going from stength to strength and dominated the middle of the park. Even missing Jules, the ball around the ruck went the Roos way more often than not, with Crox, Brent, Zac, Ian and Andy running hard all game long, setting up the majority of the play.

Up front, the wind made leading into a kick an interesting prospect, with the ball swirling all over the place. Even through this, Andy and Phil continued to pluck the pill from all angles, but Ted was having trouble repeating his sniper-like performance against Manchester. Late in the game, the Roos switched things around and gave Mike and Ads a run, giving Mike his first goal of the season and Ads a solid indicator that the opposition's half was the wrong one for him.

Despite the totally embarrassing nature of his one screwed-wide-shot, Ads had a solid game, attacking the ball whenever it was within range. Mike, Russ and Tristan also enjoyed solid games, dealing with the swirling ball into the Devils forward line. The back line were definitely busier this week against the more experienced Swindon side, but coped well and never exhibited the periods of inattention that led to scores against in the first two matches.

There were plenty of good performances all over the park, but outstanding were Andy Craig, who time and again broke through tackles to pump the ball into the forwards, as well as distributing well across the pitch. Zac was typically relaxed all over the park and must be a right 'mare to play against, popping up everywhere and running away with the ball. Brent enjoyed a good return and the team was glad to see Ian recovered quickly from a hamstring pull the week before and putting in a solid performance. Oli coped well with an unfamiliar ruckman's role and again battled hard all over the pitch.

The most memorable moment though? The look on Mike's face in the third quarter when, in front of goal, he reached for a high ball in a clump of players and came down with it. First surprise ("what's this?"), then shock ("I caught it?!"), then dread ("I've got to slot the bloody thing now!"). Needless to say, the impeccable (and - thankfully - unteachable) Nemeth style came to the fore and the ball went through for six. Nicely done Mike!

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