Round 1
Seven Hills Demons 14 l. Belrose Eagles 36

2007 Jim Beam Cup Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

Location: Australia > New South Wales > State/Metropolitan Level Competition: Jim Beam Cup

Belrose too strong for debutant Demons
Mon March 26, 2007
The weather turned ugly for the Demons debut and a hot afternoon in Sevo gave way to a cool evening with a strong gusting wind from the south. About 500 hardy souls turned up to watch the Demons debut match.

The Eagles ran with the wind in the first half and a quick check of the pre-match program confirmed the Eagles had a couple of ex-fringe first grades from Manly in Nathan Hollingsworth and Jim Curtis. These players were expected to be the keys for the Eagles and it didn't take long for them to get into the match. From the first set Curtis threw a lovely pass under pressure creating a long break up the field. The break eventual come to nothing. This break set the scene for the match with the Eagles continually attacking the Demons right hand side defence, which had problems throughout the evening.

The Demons competed well for the first 10 minutes but were under a lot of pressure during this time. This pressure finally told in the 10th minute with an off load close to the line opening up the Demons right side defence and the centre Steve Gilbert crashed over. The conversion was completed from wide out by the reserve half back number 18. The halfback kicked outstandingly from wide out most night in windy conditions and finished with 6 from 6.

The play ebbed and flowed from that point, however it was apparent that the Demons were struggling with their ball control. The Demons winger Joe 'Slippery' Swarmy and second rower Dave Johansen were working particularly hard. The Eagles made another long break and on the next play an off load on the Demons right hand side saw the fullback David Pangai dive over on the 20th minute mark.

The next 10 minutes for the Demons were all a blur with dropped balls and missed tackles seeing tries scored again by Pagani and Curtis scored down the Demons right hand side again. The 3rd try to Pagani was a beauty from the scrum with a well worked move resulting in a 70 metre try. Pagani was causing all sorts of trouble chiming in from fullback. The try from Curtis saw the Eagles leading 24-0 at the 30th minute mark. The next 10 minutes were the Demons best, of the 1st half and they started to bend back the line with some good charges from their forwards. The pressure finally told and the Demons scored through winger Lee Cameron right on half time after a neat grubber from fullback Luke Ackroyd. This brought a big cheer from the home crowd. The conversion was missed leaving the score 24-4 at half time.

The first half was really summed up by the Demon mistakes in handling and defence and the Eagles defence, which was solid. The speed of their line and the hits particularly from the lock Matt Mirabito, Curtis and his second row partner Steve Carew were punishing. The effort was there from the Demons but not the execution.

For the 2nd half we were greeted by misty rain as well as the wind and the above paragraph pretty well summed up how the second half was played, the Demons tried to lift but handling errors early in the tackle count killed any chance of a comeback. The Demons failed to complete one set for the first 10 minutes of the second half despite having excellent field position. The sloppy handling came back to haunt them with Mirabito crossing over at the 15th minute of the 2nd half after nice hands out wide.

The Demons by this stage were giving away a few penalties and the referee issued a general warning. The Demons infringed in the ball the play not long after resulting in the sin binning of their hooker Shad Hayward for 10 minutes. This lifted the Demons and they finally managed to hold the ball. Luke Ackroyd danced through 3 tackles and scored from 15 metres out. The conversion was kicked by Ackroyd and at the 60th minute mark of the match it was 30-10 to the Eagles. Luke Ackroyd made another long break after picking up a grubber on his goal line and the Demons made a long break out only to be undone again by poor handling.

The Eagles quickly replied with Nathan Hollingsworth barging over from dummy half and with 15 to go the match was all over at 36-10. The Demons got a consolation try from Darren Peachey with 2 to go and a professional foul saw no 18 from the Eagles land in the bin. This was the final play of the match as the conversion provided difficult in the wind with the final score being 36-14.

The best for the Demons were Swarmy, Johnasen and Ackroyd and the Eagles best were Curtis, Pangai, Hollingsworth, Warren and Mirabito.

Overall the Eagles had this in the bag early and weren't really challenged in the second half. The Demons whilst trying hard will need to step up if they are to succeed in their first season in the Jim Beam Cup.

Belrose Eagles 36
Tries: Pangai 2, Gilbert, Hollingsworth, Curtis, Mirabito
Goals: No.18 6/6 (name not listed in programme)

Seven Hills Demons 10
Tries: Ackroyd, Peachey, Cameron
Goals: Ackroyd 1/3

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