Rep Teams do it by Half

After a slow start, the senior side went into the half time break down 18-16 against a Western Division team who were coming off a tough 40-34 victory over Southern Division last week. In contrast, the Illawarra team has had a disruptive preparation with a lack of training due to the persistent rain in the Illawarra and the withdrawal of three key players (Steve Jolly, Mick Gillette and Glen Air). Perhaps the inclusion of six Port Kembla Players gave some sort of "team combination" to the side, as they produced a powerful second half display to run out winners 52-18. Craig Simon was brought into the squad late as a replacement for Steve Jolly and Glen Air, while Simon Smith received a late call up to assume a position on the bench, shared with three other Port reps.The 36 unanswered points for Illawarra in the second half was made even more impressive by the strong defense which did not allow a single point against them in the half.

The Under 18's Representative team had a similar day of it when they met reigning Country Champions Southern Division. Southern kicked off their defence with a 36-16 win against Western Division at Camden, while Illawarra, like their senior partners, had a bye in the first round courtesy of the Senior teams victory in 2002.

Illawarra and Southern went to the break locked at six-all, but Illawarra came out in the second half and controlled the ball better than their opponents to take out the match 26-12 and progress to the next round along with their senior brothers.

The weekends representative matches were the only league for some of the locals as the Illawarra Tooheys League competition suffered another enforced lay-off due to the Big Wet. Games will be rescheduled to a time suitable to all teams in question.