Thrill Seekers,
It rained, on and off, all day Saturday and after weeks, if not months of no significant precipitation in Sydney, we looked like facing the irony of getting a wet arse at the football.
However, apart from a little mizzle as we climbed heartbreak hill up from the river to the Mary St entrance, not a single drop of rain fell during the match, and then the minute we walked back in through the front door, the overnight deluge began.
84mm in the rain gague at home in the 24 hours to 0900 Sunday.
Lucky.
With the weather coming in from the NE it made even more sense for me and the Good Lady Wife to perch ourselves on the low wall under the cover of the towering Port Jackson fig treeS [at the risk of being donged on the head by falling fruit] overlooking the NW corner post [which fell over of its own accord during the first half presumably due to the soft ground and had to be repaired by a bloke armed with a hacksaw] until some enormous man mountain of a brown brother, dressed in gumboots, some kind of blue boiler suit teamed with protective rugby headgear, sporting a giant silver fern flag attached to a log of a flag pole appeared as if out of nowhere, along with his outrageously drunk weedy little white bread mate in full Worriers match day kit and decided to take up residence right near us, and proceed to ruin it for everyone.
Then moved to the other end of the ground and found that the offical crowd figure had been inflated by a bit [lucky if there were 10K in, for mine, fairweather fans just didn't turn up - It's like that in Sydney] and found that we could squeeze in and lean over the railing on the terrace in front of the grand stand and watch the Tigers score the match winning tries right in front of our noses.
Brilliant!
Despite the rain reprieve, it was a ratty, dour first half exhibition of wet weather football on a greasy ground, indicated by the 0-0 scoreline after the traditional softening up period and the 6-6 scoreline at the break.
The Worriers had the bulk of first half possession and the Tiges were lucky to get away with only one try scored against them, but the visiting Kiwi's as a result were bashed from pillar to post by the Balmain forwards, and looked buggered.
It seemed certain they would run out of puff and floodgates would open to some extent, and so it came to pass, with three tries late in the half enough to seal the deal.
Obviously under instruction, Robert "not bad for a kid" Lui played a more traditional old-style kind of half back at second receiver, and while the Great Benji again just tried too hard, but at least he had a hand in every try.
The forwards manned up well in defence, but still lack some starch in taking the ball up.
That said, Keefy "Bludnut" Galloway made some important busts through the advantage line to put his backs in the clear.
After scoring another double, there was a pleasing note mid-week with Chris Lawrence being invited to lunch with the Club Secretary in the Member's Dining Room at the Balmain Leagues Club, where the Try Scoring Freak signed a new five year contract on the back of a beer coaster.
The Board took the view that The Freak should not be a new Scotty Prince - a big fish who got away.
On interview after the game, SC Sheens described the match as a "Panadol night" intimating that he's got a few headaches to cure before the Tigers can start taking all before them.
There's no substitute for match practice and match fitness, so it will come in due course.
In the meantime, a win is a win, however dire.
There was a touching half-time tribute to Taniela "The Human Wrecking Ball" Tuiaki, at a ground where he is much loved.
Here's a bloke who shattered an ankle at the end of the '09 season, missed the entire '10 season, and retired at the tender age of 28 just before the start of this season in the knowledge that he would never come right.
They paraded him around all four corners of the ground, from time-to-time arm-in-arm with some cheer girls, who let him go to do the long, lonely solo walk in front of the grand stand.
As he meekly waved to the members giving him a standing ovation, he tried manfully to hide his limp, but failed.
The poor, poor bastard.
WESTS TIGERS 20. Tries: Lawrence (2), Ayshford, Farah. Goals: Marshall (2).
NEW ZEALAND WARRIORS 12. Tries: Inu, Mannering. Goals: Seymour (2).
At Leichhardt Oval.
Crowd: 13,161.
