Southern Suburbs continued their red-hot start across the Premier & Womens grades while Port Adelaide, Old Collegians and Brighton laid down their Prem grade credentials in a rollicking Round 2.
Souths fullback Sanevaca Ronavuso racked up 36 points in a match-winning turn against Onkaparinga but the Bulls didn't have it all their way at Wilfred Taylor Reserve.
Ronavuso and rival fullback Troy Wilkins (20 points) kept the scorers busy in a see-sawing shootout before Souths eventually claimed a high-octane win 41-37 at the cost of their coach’s fingernails.
“(Ronavuso) went alright, didn’t he? He’s one of the hardest players to tackle, especially in broken play, but he only picks up what the team can pull for him and I think our forwards and centres laid a nice platform for him on Saturday,” coach David Jones said.
“But yeah look, I was pretty nervous for a while there. From memory we were down at halftime and Onka really came out and gave it to us.
“It was a ding-dong battle the whole time and that comes down to our similarities as teams, we’ve both got mobile packs and like to counterattack.
Posted by Souths Rugby Union on Saturday, April 22, 2023
“I think we got the upper hand in the second half and were able to adapt to their defensive pressure but credit to them, Onka are a great side and they’re much stronger than their Round 1 result suggested.”
The bonus-point victory sees the Bulls outright first on the Premier Grade ladder ahead of Old Collegians, who remain undefeated after another late try (this time to Maxwell Monfries) and the boot of Tristan Coetzer secured a 24-19 win over Elizabeth.
Meanwhile Port Adelaide fought hard for their first win of the season, toppling Woodville 32-28 on the road, before Brighton issued a stark warning to the competition with a 48-22 victory over Burnside in their Grand Final rematch.
Burnside were kept scoreless for the opening 50 minutes as doubles to Pita Nakarawa and Jaden Phillips spearheaded a clinical Anzac Cup display from the reigning premiers.
Brighton also enjoyed a Reserve Grade win over Burnside with Onkas, Port, Old Colls & Barossa tasting victory in the twos while Third Grade results fell the way of Old Colls, Barossa, Onkas & Brighton Gold.
Congratulations to Brighton Rugby Union Football Club on taking home the ANZAC Cup, defeating Burnside Rugby Club 48-22. The winner of the Michael von Berg ANZAC Medal is Rhys Fishwick from Brighton.
Posted by Rugby Union South Australia on Saturday, April 22, 2023
But it was ultimately Souths' day in the sun with their reigning ladies champs handing Onkaparinga a 66-12 drubbing, Tamikha McNab's six-try haul stealing the show.
“It’s a good feeling to get wins like that (Tamikha’s really fast and I don’t know if it was six tries in the end but she played really well) but we were more surprised with the fast start against Adelaide Uni last week,” Souths coach Emma Yates said.
“We’ve had a few girls out early in the season with injury so there’s been a few changes. Some of the new players we’re bringing in are really talented and I think we’ll be looking really strong by the time we get everyone back.”
Yates said her charges would take the early wins in their stride with one eye fixed in a litmus test against Burnside in Round 7.
“They (Burnside) are our biggest rivals at the moment,” Yates said
“We’ve got Port Adelaide next and they’ve got some great senior players but they’re still developing so we’ll just keep going how we’re going and look forward to Round 7 as well.”
Woodville and Barossa claimed wins over Port and Adelaide Uni respectively in the remaining women’s fixtures with Burnside and Old Colls enjoying the bye.
