Written by Stewart Wilson

The Mudchooks had a good and timely 40-10 away win over the Australian
Defence Force Academy (ADFA) team on 20 July, scoring six tries to two
and moving up a spot to fifth on the table as the finals approach with
two rounds remaining. The top six go through.

The Mudchooks had control of the game for much of it and tries in the
first half to centres Jone Waqa and Maloni Tubekitu plus flyhalf Kyle
Shand – all of which were converted by Tom Worman – established a
21-0 lead at the break.

The ADFA boys fought back with two unconverted tries in the second
half but the Mudchooks were never seriously threatened and added three
more tries through Uraia (‘Woody’) Rabici, winger Luke Gorman and
second rower Kieran Maas. Tom Worman converted two of them to bring
the final score to 40-10.

It was a mostly solid performance by the Mudchooks who once again
showed what they can do when they get properly organised, hold their
shape and don’t push silly, low percentage passes which invariably
result in a loss of possession.

There’s still work to do (especially on passing discipline) but this
is a good and skilled team with a great sense of camaraderie within
it. There is no reason why wins in the remaining rounds can’t be
achieved, moving the Chooks further up the table by the end of the
regular season.

The Mudchooks have a bye next weekend and play Cooma away on 3 August
and Taralga at home on 10 August.

Player awards and their sponsors for the ADFA match were:
Best and Fairest: Royal Hotel – Maloni Tubekitu (3 points), Jone
Waqa (2 points), Will Smith (1 point).
Players’ Player: Mint Air Conditioning and Refrigeration – Vincent
Hill.
Coach’s Player: Bungendore Community Bank – Tom Worman and Maloni
Tubekitu.
Chicks’ Pick: NV Panel and Paint – Maloni Tubekitu.