No panic for butchers

CARLTON LEAGUE FINALS

JOEL RITCHIE

THIRROUL Butchers first grade coach Phil Ostwald refuses to hit the panic button despite his side's 44-22 loss to Collegians in Sunday's Carlton League qualifying final.

The Butchers will meet Western Suburbs in Saturday's minor semi-final at WIN Stadium after the Devils eliminated Corrimal on the first weekend of the finals series.

Ostwald said his side would bounce back from Sunday's defeat, which was built around Collies' dominance of the ruck and possession in the first stanza.

"We have to work on the positives and look forward to the next game," Ostwald said.

"We're disappointed but we'll shake it off and move on.

On Sunday, the Butchers trailed 28-8 at the break before matching Collies for most of the second stanza.

"We didn't have much ball in the first half " I thought we protected what we did have well," Ostwald said.

"We can't let other teams get a roll-on in attack " we need to control the ruck.

"We just need to get more numbers in tackles " on Sunday at times we put on a big hit and the next tackle they punched holes in us."

Sunday's qualifying final was played in bitterly cold conditions with the Butchers running with a stiff Southerly wind at their backs in the first half.

Collies drew first blood to lead 6-nil after eight minutes before Thirroul hit back when Blake Dunn found a flying Shane Younger, whose angled run saw the Butchers trail 6-4.

Collies hit straight back with a try after regaining the kick-off to extend their lead to 12-4.

In the 22nd minute Thirroul were over when Scott Borg completed a slick run-around with Clint Hill before finding Younger, who again was too quick for the Collies defence, scoring in the corner to trim the margin to 12-8.

Although Thirroul showed signs of life Collies dominated the final 15 minutes of the first half, scoring three tries to take a 28-8 lead to the sheds.

Collies scored first after the break to build an imposing 34-8 lead before Thirroul regained the restart and scored through substitute Mark Sheppard for 34-14.

In the 15th minute of the second half it looked like "?game on' when Thirroul scored again through Todd Marion to make the score 34-18.

Collies scored with 20 minutes remaining before Thirroul hit back through Todd Hayes for 38-22.

Collies scored a late try to cap the scoring and end Thirrouls' recent unbeaten streak.

Thirroul's second grade will play Collies in Sunday's major semi-final after a well-earned 16-nil victory over Dapto.

The Butchers led 10-nil at the break and ground out the result in the second half, with a late try sealing the victory.

Meanwhile, Corrimal's first top grade finals campaign more than ten seasons ended with a 22-14 defeat against Wests in the elimination final.

The Cougars led 14-10 at the break but were outmuscled in the second stanza.

Despite first grade's loss, the Cougars under 18s are still on the finals march after a 32-22 win over Helensburgh in their elimination semi-final.

The young Cougars will now face Dapto in Saturday's minor semi-final at WIN Stadium.

Wests won the second grade elimination final 22-12 against Wollongong/Uni Bulls and Windang defeated Avondale 22-10 in the VB Cup eliminator.