Welcome to a cold night here at ICA stadium where we are bound to witness a highly entertaining match between the 2nd placed Hawks and the last placed Pumas. The Pumas have just come off the bye so they should be fresh and healthy. We just saw the Cyclones get their first win and the Pumas are in the same situation. They are yet to find a win this season and need to start winning in order to keep in touch with the top. As for the Hawks, a tough encounter last round beating their rivals the Rainbow Donkehs. No doubt that they will be looking to back up that win with another one in front of their home crowd and push for that top spot. In terms of team changes, the only change for the Hawks comes on the bench where we see the return of Ben Hornby who returns from his 3 month holiday at the YMCA. As for the Pumas, James Read has been dropped and Dion Alessi makes his way to the wing. To fill his old spot comes in big bad Johnny Wilkinson who will be looking to prove he is worthy of a regular first grade spot. With both teams having a solid foundation in the forwards, I have no doubt that tonight will come down to the halves. If Gayler and Taylor step up, we know they can be almost unstoppable and this could very well be a blow out. However, there is a lot of unseen potential in Ames and Fung and with the leadership of Flack, they very well may step up tonight. They are going to have to in order to compete, that is for sure. As we are almost ready for kickoff, here are tonight's lineups: Hawks: 1. Neville Stacker (noodlez) 2. Gani Shriram (Shri) 3. Ben Taylor (Julian) 4. Travis Webber (Deadleydemon) 5. Steven Cambridge (supersteve03) 6. Ryan Gayler (RyanG) 7. Tim Taylor (Toolman) 8. Theo Miokovic (Theo) 9. Scott Wilson (Wilson) 10. Peter Retzel (Pretzel) 11. Luke Tyson (K9) 12. Adam Vago (Snake) 13. Brett Gemmell (Boobidy) Interchange: 14. Princess Sparkle (Speirz) 15. Jason Denton (nz0003) 16. Mikey Monkeywrench (Peaches) 17. Ben Hornby (Colesy) Pumas: 1. Jesse Harding 2. Dion Alessi 3. Ben Herd 4. Dexter Astele 5. John Thornton 6. Kelvin Fung (c) 7. Ed Ames 8. Simon Humble 9. Luke Pilgrim 10. Jonny Wilkinson 11. Alex O'Driscoll 12. Billy Olsen 13. League Lover Interchange: 14. Jaques McGrath 15. Mitch Johns 16. Aaron Hunt (vc) 17. Scott Flack
Code: Events: 8th Minute: Pumas RLFC Try to Ben Herd (0 - 4) 8th Minute: Pumas RLFC Goal to Alexander O'Driscoll (0 - 6) 17th Minute: Hawks Goal to Gani Shriram (2 - 6) 18th Minute: Hawks Try to Gani Shriram (6 - 6) 24th Minute: Hawks Try to Theo Miokovic (10 - 6) 24th Minute: Hawks Goal to Gani Shriram (12 - 6) 45th Minute: Pumas RLFC Try to Jesse Harding (12 - 10) 50th Minute: Pumas RLFC Try to Simon Humble (12 - 14) 63rd Minute: Hawks Try to Adam Vago (16 - 14) [Missed tackle from Billy Olsen leads to try] 63rd Minute: Hawks Goal to Gani Shriram (18 - 14) 66th Minute: Pumas RLFC Try to Dexter Astele (18 - 18) 78th Minute: Hawks Try to Mikey Monkeywrench (22 - 18) RLSim Hawks Vs. RLSim Pumas RLFC Score: 22 - 18 Tries: 4 - 4 Goals: 3/5 - 1/4 Goal Ratio: 60% - 25% Possesion: 49% - 51% Line Breaks: 14 - 17 Hit-ups: 164 - 147 Metres Gained: 1560 - 1545 Tackles: 208 - 255 Missed Tackles: 14 - 14 Errors: 6 - 4 Penalties: 7 - 6 Stats: (T G Pts LB LBA H MG T MT Err Pen) Hawks 1.Neville Stacker (0 0 0 0 0 10 102 8 3 0 0) 2.Gani Shriram (1 3 10 1 1 10 83 10 0 0 0) 3.Ben Taylor (0 0 0 1 2 8 77 6 2 0 2) 4.Travis Webber (0 0 0 0 0 11 69 6 0 0 0) 5.Steven Cambridge (0 0 0 1 0 13 78 6 0 0 0) 6.Ryan Gayler (0 0 0 4 0 9 105 17 0 0 0) 7.Tim Taylor (0 0 0 0 2 9 92 17 0 0 1) 8.Theo Miokovic (1 0 4 1 0 8 90 12 0 0 0) 9.Scott Wilson (0 0 0 1 0 8 100 17 1 1 0) 10.Peter Retzel (0 0 0 0 0 7 69 18 0 1 0) 11.Luke Tyson (0 0 0 0 1 10 60 28 1 0 1) 12.Adam Vago (1 0 4 1 0 14 139 17 2 0 1) 13.Brett Gemmell (0 0 0 2 0 11 121 17 1 0 2) 14.Daniel Speirs (0 0 0 0 0 5 62 7 0 1 0) 15.Jason Denton (0 0 0 1 0 14 108 5 3 0 0) 16.Mikey Monkeywrench (1 0 4 1 1 10 118 10 0 0 0) 17.Ben Hornby (0 0 0 0 0 7 87 7 1 3 0) Pumas RLFC 1.Jesse Harding (1 0 4 1 0 24 103 8 0 0 0) 2.Dion Alessi (0 0 0 0 0 7 72 11 2 0 3) 3.Ben Herd (1 0 4 2 0 6 109 13 0 0 0) 4.Dexter Astele (1 0 4 2 0 6 96 9 0 0 0) 5.John Thornton (0 0 0 0 0 7 70 12 0 1 0) 6.Kelvin Fung (0 0 0 3 1 6 136 11 0 0 1) 7.Ed Ames (0 0 0 3 0 4 71 17 2 0 0) 8.Simon Humble (1 0 4 2 0 8 137 21 0 0 1) 9.Luke Pilgrim (0 0 0 0 0 5 56 18 0 0 0) 10.John Wilkinson (0 0 0 2 0 10 89 18 1 0 0) 11.Alexander O'Driscoll (0 1 2 0 0 11 104 25 2 0 1) 12.Billy Olsen (0 0 0 0 0 11 78 28 3 1 0) 13.League Lover (0 0 0 0 0 13 102 20 0 0 0) 14.Jaques McGrath (0 0 0 0 0 7 62 13 0 0 0) 15.Mitch Johns (0 0 0 0 0 11 96 12 0 0 0) 16.Aaron Hunt (0 0 0 1 1 6 76 9 1 0 0) 17.Scott Flack (0 0 0 1 0 5 88 10 3 2 0) Injuries: Supensions: Overview: Well that's it. That's the game, and oh how cruel it can be. The Hawks have snatched a victory here. An absolutely gallant effort from the Pumas almost got them the points. However, the Hawks showed their class and snatched the victory right at the end when they needed to pull something off. Once again we see the likes of Gayler stepping up and taking control of the team. What a season he is having. Gemmell also coming into form now having a great game and even Monkeywrench making an impact off the bench. Bad luck to the Pumas, so close yet so far. However, well done to the Hawks, they win again.