Collegians 29 def. Port 18

Port's two regular season wins against Collegians counted for little as The Dogs methodically went about their job of downing The Blacks and earning the right to a Grand Final spot and a week off to rest their injuries. Port live to fight another day, but will need to overcome a dangerous Thirroul side in Saturday night's Preliminary Final at WIN Stadium.

Collies started the match without Jason Ferris, Jason and Dane Dorahy and Scott MacDougall - all ruled out with injury. Port Kembla were still without Mark Simon, sidelined with a fractured arm, and Nathan Heffernan who broke his jaw in the final game against Collies only two weeks after returning from a bad knee injury.

Port started well, forcing Collegians into an early mistake, dropping the ball from their first possession. Port gained possession, then a penalty, and proceeded to work their way up field. The game was only three minutes old when Johno Johnson put Grant Roberts over under the sticks, Roberts' joy shown on the face of the hard running hooker as he crossed the line (photo left). Johnson added the extras and Port held the early six point lead.

Two minutes later, Collies threatened Port's line only to again cough up possession with the Black's line in sight. Port ad the ball but almost immediately handed it back to The Dogs through a knock on on the second tackle. That was all the invitation Collegians needed, with stand-in captain Wade Forrester scoring out wide. The conversion attempt by Josh Guyatt was unsuccessful, but the Dogs had trimmed Port's lead to just two points.

Port almost scored again in the 11th minute when Clint Hill took on the defence and popped up what seemed a good ball for Greg Hooper. Hopper couldn't handle the pass at it bounced off his shoulder just five metres from Collegians' try line.  Collegians resumed play from their own twenty metre line and looked like earning a forty-twenty shortly afte, only to have the referee rule a Port feed to the scrum.

Port continued to rack up a high error rate, turning the ball back to Collies, but then Juita Suka was the main instigator in a Port tackle which bundled Collies into touch.

Seventeen minutes had passed when a clever Josh Guyatt kick behind the line saw speedster Chris Barnes gather the ball and spin out of a tackle to score The Dogs' second try of the match. Guyatt's conversion attempt was again wide, but Collies had taken the lead 8-6.

Collies then extended their lead with fifteen minutes left in the first half when Chris Barnes got outside of Suka and ran towards the try line. Barnes threw a final ball in to Wes Hallam-Mann who crossed untouched for Drew Dalton to convert and give Collegians a handy 14-6 break over the Port outfit.

From the restart, things looked like getting worse for Port when Johno Johnson kicked out on the full. He redeemed himself a couple of plays later when he went agonisingly close to scoring adjacent to the uprights. From the play the bal, Greg Hooper was illegally relieved of possession, referee Mick Dupille having no choice but to penalise Collegians. Port ignored the easy two points on offer and instead spun the ball wide. Daniel Jiminez found himself on the wing and heading for touch under the pressure of a three man Collies tackle, but managed to pop the ball inside to Paul Lokys who crossed for an easy try. The margin was back to just four points.

Port continued to pressure Collies' try line and showed some enterprising and entertaining play eight minutes from the break, but failed to cross. Port did convert possession into points with six remaining when Jason Sullivan threw the final ball to Paul Lokys who brought up his double. After having his previous attempt hit the posts from a wide angle, Johnson's shot at goal just dropped short, leaving the scores tied at 14 a piece.

With Port's rising error count, an even scoreline at the break would have been taken by coach Craig Simon. However, with two on the clock, Andrew Bobbin was penalised by Dupille for an illegal strip. Dupille ruled that there were two in the tackle, and Collegians had a final throw prior to half time.

From that play, and with a minute and a half on the clock, Wade Forrester spun out of two feeble tackles to dive over under the posts for his second try. Guyatt converted and Collegians went into the break with a 20-14 lead over their regular season nemesis.

Clint Hill got through a mountain of work in the first period and was a standout for Port. For Collegians, their forwards more than matched Port's forwards, but is was their backs who were doing the damage, making telling in-roads into the Port defence.

The second half could not have started off worse for Port. Captain and coach Craig Simon was stretchered off the field with what seemed like a serious knee injury. The injury was sustained in the first half. Simon had it strapped during the break, but it gave way early into the second half, effectively ending his game.

Collegians then looked to have crossed five into the half when Hallam-Mann touched down. Play was pulled back with a forward pass the ruling.

Port attacked Collies' try line in the ninth minute, but a handling error on the fourth tackle saw the ball and possession coughed up. Port then took all of the pressure away by giving Collegians a relieving penalty on their own twenty metre line.

The Collegians component of the crown erupted when The Dogs seemingly dived over from a dummy half lunge. After what seemed like an eternity, Dupille ruled that Collegians were centimetres short of the line. That brought up the fifth tackle and Zac Ballinger, starting at halfback for the Collegians side, kicked long in goal.

Port attempted to work the ball out from their own line, but were penalised on the strength of a Brian Bonnie touch judge report. Collegians elected to give themselves an 8 point buffer and Josh Guyatt potted the penalty goal.

Clint Hill and Johno Johnson produced an outstanding tackle in the 13th minute of play, only to undo their own good work by giving away a penalty for having their hands in the ruck. It was the story of the day for Port it seemed, unable to gain any consistency and giving away uncharacteristic ill-disciplined penalties.

Hill showed some good urgency shortly after, scrambling to dive on a dropped Collegians ball. Collies then gave away a penalty for off-side play. With seventeen gone, Suka went close to scoring down the right wing, before Hill received an inside ball to cross under the sticks. What followed bemused the crowd as the try was seemingly awarded, then reversed. The ruling was made that Mick Dupille himself impeded a Collegians defender. This would have been difficult as Hill had no-one near him and Dupille was ten metres from the ball.

Port got their try from the next play though when Jeff Hardy scooted from the scrum base and passed to Suka who crossed untouched. Johnson's bad day with the boot continued, but Port were back within striking distance just four points adrift of Collegians.

All hell threatened to break loose at the midway point of the second period when Port took exception to some Collegians attention in a tackle. The fracas was quickly dispersed by the officials and Port received a penalty for a swinging arm in the tackle.

Port had their moments, including a bone crunching tackle from Clint Hill and Andrew Bobbin in the 22nd minute of the game. Jason Sullivan than saved a forty-twenty when he tapped an out-bound ball back into play. Just a minute later, Hill turned villain when he threw a loose ball behind his support for Justin Brooker to grab and head towards the Port try line. Paul Lokys was having a god game and produced a try saver with the help of Grant Roberts, forcing Brooker touch in goal.

Then with 28 of the forty minutes gone, Wes Hallam-Mann  stepped through some flimsy defence to score fifteen from the uprights. Guyatt goaled and Collegians held what was a match winning 28-18 lead with just twelve on the clock.

To their credit, Port didn't lay down. But their error rate continued and any potential raid was thwarted with either a loose pass or a dropped ball.

The remaining ten minutes proved to be academic, with a snappy Josh Guyatt field goal two from time the only additional score. Collegians ended the game ahead on the scoreboard by 29-18.

For Port, heart can be taken from the fact that Collegians played some disciplined footy and made fewer errors than Port. Collegians played a better "opportunists" game, scoring at least four tries immediately after Port errors or penalties. If The Blacks can cut down on their error rate, they can overcome The Butchers in a weeks time.

Clint Hill played his heart out and was a standout for Port Kembla. Paul Lokys did nothing wrong on the left wing and Grant Roberts gave his all as usual. Port will be sweating on the fitness of Craig Simon for the sudden death final against Thirroul, with brother Craig also an outside chance of pulling on the boots if needed and if cleared by his medical staff.

Port's Wollongong Asphalt Under 18's team overcame a sluggish start and an early Dapto try to book their place in the Grand Final on September Five. Port had lost three of their last four games and many pundits had written the side off as a genuine title threat. Two of those losses had been at the hands of their Dapto opponents, 16-4 in round 15 and 30-6 in round 16.

The match opened with Dapto custodian Ian Catania getting smashed in a tackle inside the first minute, forcing the ball to pop free. Pot attacked wth Kane Armstrong kicking on the fourth tackle. Dapto let the bal bounce as it was close to the dead ball line, but the ball jack-knifed and almost resulted in a Port try before it bounced touch in goal.

Dapto attacked in the fifth minute but dropped the ball close to Port's try line. The Canaries opened their scoring in the tenth minute when they had the ball stripped from their possession as they crossed Port's line. However, there were no Port defenders in sight to fall on the lose ball, and halfback Rodney Murphy fell on the loose ball to score. Trent Grundy converted and the Minor Premiers led Port by six.

Five minutes later and Port halfback Christian Kupenga made a telling break, bursting through a two man tackle to set up Matthew Michalowski to score. The competition's leading point scorer, Keith Lulia, missed the conversion attempt and Port trailed Dapto by two points.

Dapto's restart went out on the full, handing possession back to Port on the halfway line. Scott Haynes came off the bench and immediately made an impact by breaking through the defensive line. From the play the ball, Matt Michalowski set a great pass for Joel Court to fly down the touchline and score Port's second try. Keith Lulia kicked the goal and Port led 10-6.

Twenty minutes into the half and three Dapto players were penalised for a dangerous throw, seemingly effected after the tackle had ended. Port were unable to apply any significant pressure, and it was Dapto who scored seven minutes later when Ian Catania ran through a big hole to cross after Dapto had advanced up field on the back of a penalty for a high shot by Port. Grundy's conversion was good and Dapto regained the lead 12-10.

Dapto went further ahead five from half time when a quick play the ball helped Joel Walsh catch Port on the back foot. Walsh sliced through the line and scored out wide for Dapto to lead 16-10. Trent Grundy then took Jared Stewart high in the 33rd minute, giving Keith Lulia a penalty attempt which he duly converted.

It was Grundy's second warning after being involved in the dangerous throw incident earlier in the match. He walked a tightrope when on the stroke of half time, he took Port front rower Osman Elmir high just two minutes after his last indiscretion. Referee Andrew Riolo lectured Grundy for two minutes before awarding a penalty to Port which was immediately kicked into touch to end the half.

Port started the second half full of running. Oscar Ferreira was held up over the line in the fourth minute. Keith Lulia then stamped his indelible impression on the game with some magic. First he broke the line on his own forty and then positioned Matt Michalowski perfectly on his inside, throwing a ten metre ball to Michalowski who sprinted the required forty metres to score. Lulia's conversion put Port ahead 18-16.

Keiran Jack provided the highlight of the day when he threw a perfect ball on his way down to a rampaging Matt Michalowski, the Port five-eighth scoring his third try for the afternoon. Lulia booted another conversion and Port had raced to a 24-16 lead after just ten minutes of play.

With 18 gone on the clock, some great scrambling defence by Port including a solid one on one tackle in front of goals by Oscar Ferreira denied Dapto a much needed try. The stoic defence forced Dapto to forfeit possession.

Dapto didn't finish Minor Premiers for no reason though, and they hit back with eleven to go when Luke Thompson barged over from close range for Paul Morris to convert and trim Port's lead to just two points.

Joel Court kicked on the fifth from twenty metres out. Matt Michalowski trailed the ball and toed it through, but the ball just won the race to the touch in goal line with three Blacks' chaser closing in for the touch down.

Two minutes later, Keith Lulia was at it again when he broke Dapto wide apart on his own thirty metre line. Lulia showed he had the pace to go with his talent and determination by out running the chasers to score a spectacular individual try. He couldn't convert his own try, but Port had established a 28-22 lead with only six left in the game.

Port sealed the in in the 32nd minute when Keith Lulia fittingly scored the match winner off an inside ball from Christian Kupenga. Lulia converted his own try for an individual tally of 18 points and a 34-22 victory to The Blacks.

Port progress to the Grand Final in a fortnight's time while Dapto will need to front up for a Saturday match against a dangerous Berkeley side this weekend.

Keith Lulia and Matthew Michalowski were brilliant for Port. Lulia's attacking prowess was a highlight, but his defence was also bruising at times and so solid that it drew comparisons with Port's First Grade centre and coach Craig Simon, himself an outstanding defensive centre.