19 June 2010
Wellington : The Wellington scrap through to the WFR XIII World Club Final by narrowly defeating the Alford Aces ( Scotland) 24-21 at home to secure their place in this season’s WFR World Final.
After a dismal show against the Premiership runners up in round 11 of the regular season in Scotland losing 6 – 32 to Alford Aces in doing so almost losing the minor premiership , the Dolphins escaping with the minor title by a six point differential overall.
Today the Dolphins were taking no such luxury by resting players , to the field took the strongest available squad Rabbit007 (Dolphins – CEO) could provide and to add quickly to allow all the possible fairness in the spirit of Competition he took a back seat and got Mrs Rabbit to push the “Run” Button on the WFR Game Engine (In Essence she was the REF) and she then saved the game engine and saved the game file then passed the report over to Rabbit007.
And He began to read the report ….
Nerves were there , especially after the last result against the Aces and as he read he was nervous as he read the worst start at home he could have imagined saw Schalk Burger cross and the Kiwi Nemisis Carlos Spencer Convert after 10 minutes the Aces were ahead 7 – 0 , then after a Burger Forward pass the scrum should have been a straight forward affair but no , a Tighthead from Sean O'Connor saw Justin Fitzpatrick cross and another Spencer conversion 14 – 0 to the Aces , were we seeing a repeat of round 11 ?
Then came big Ma’a , a great burst through the middle set up the flying Serge Lilo to score under the posts , converted by Weepu 7 – 14 , 21 minutes Gone , THEN from the kick off the Aces blew it with a player in front so Weepu kicked for touch Filli re gathers from the lineout and put it out again , Aces have the trhow in And Jeremy Thrush Steals the Line Out Ball and crashes over , Weepu Converts 14 – 14 GAME ON….
Both teams fought out a tough final 15 minutes of the first half only to see them go back to the sheds sharing the first half spoils.
Tamati Ellison gets the Dolphins Scoreboard ticking again in the 47th minute with a wide out touchdown Weepu misses the conversion 19 – 14 and the dolphins are in front. Then it was Defence Time , the Aces began throwing everything at the Dolphins for the next 10 minutes the Dolphins were defending in Numbers then in the 56th minute the Aces had a chance with a penalty which Spencer drew to the left to miss .
As we continued the forward battle was immense and it took another darting attacking run from Weepu that set up Dolphins Captain Rodney So’oialo to crash over with several Aces Players on top of him , the Call went to the Video ref , not a great friend this season to the Dolphins but today he was and TRY ! goes up on the big screen , Weepu’s conversion misses 24- 14 to the Dolphins 15 minutes to go.
Carlos spencer gains some great field position in the 66th minute from a penalty and from the ensuing lineout Thom Evans Collects the ball from the line out and steps inside Conrad smith who has had a shocker tonight , to dot under the posts , Spencer Kicks the Conversion and with 14 minutes to go 24 – 21 to the dolphins.
And 14 minutes of Blood and tears with the Dolphin Fans riding on every possession every whistle and in the end they did it a Great Game of RUGBY UNION FOOTBALL….
The Wellington Dolphins are back for the Big Show and the fans are queuing already for tickets for the Grand final in 2 Weeks time. The Alford Aces now travel to Sth Africa and take on the Durban Sports Club in the Qualification Final , the Winner meets Wellington to decide the WFR XIII Champions.
DOLPHINS WFR PRESS
