THE Burleigh Bears handed Aspley a crushing loss in the Brisbane & District Women’s Division 1 competition, taking out win 40-0 in wet conditions at Pizzey Park.
The first few minutes gave good promise of the tough game ahead. Aspley defended their line with great effort, holding out Burleigh’s strong attack many times early; but a great set for Burleigh at the 10th minute saw a breakaway run by Paige Rogers leading to Krystal Hardin, who crossed the line for Burleigh’s first try of the game.
Jesse Jervis nailed her conversion, which saw Burleigh take the lead 6-0.
Aspley got back into the match and with only two reserves they fought hard, gaining the majority of possession in great field position for the next 20 minutes.
An impressive line-break from Aspley second rower Laura Hickey gave hope for the side, but it wasn’t to be as a knock on soon followed which saw momentum swing to Burleigh. Yet despite this, Aspley defended commendably for three straight sets.
But five minutes from half-time and with the Aspley defensive line tiring, Hardin went over for a crucial, defence-busting try.
With an unsuccessful conversion, the halftime score went to 10-0 with Hardin’s double a highlight in an entertaining half for the Pizzey Park spectators.
As Burleigh kicked off for the second half: this tough, wet game started to favour Burleigh’s experience and they continued to grow stronger as Aspley’s fatigue began to take its toll on their reduced squad.
Burleigh’s great structured attack came out firing at Aspley and in the 41st minute, a swift individual run for Hardin saw her cross the line for a third time to take the score to 14-0.
It didn’t take long for Burleigh to break open the match and by the 48th minute when Burleigh’s Jasmine Kemp barged through the middle of the tiring Aspley defence for her second try in a matter of minutes, Burleigh pushed the score line out to 26-0.
Nothing went Aspley’s way in the difficult conditions as error after error kept them away from any sustained attacking field position.
Burleigh pushed their hard-hitting forwards down the field and with a beautiful switch play from their halves, they once again put Hardin over the line for a fourth try.
Another successful conversion by Jervis, edged the ever-growing score line out to 32-0.
Aspley showed glimmers of hope as even after having their try line crossed numerous occasions they never gave up defensively.
But Burleigh weren’t finished as Amy Stead found her way around the defensive line for another four-pointer, and with it their advantage was stretched to 36-0.
Five scrum changeovers within Aspley’s 10m line showed the wet weather didn’t help either side’s ball handling, but Burleigh finally took control with a slick back-line play off the scrum sending Hardin crashing over the line for a remarkable fifth try of the game.
The full time whistle could not come soon enough for a valiant Aspley, but still they managed to hold out a certain Burleigh try in the 68th minute with some gutsy defence.
This ensured come fulltime Burleigh set Aspley’s fate with a score of 40-0.
Burleigh’s win now sits them third on the Division 1 competition ladder with five points, while Aspley sit at the bottom of the ladder on one point.
Other Results for Round 4
Division 1
Souths Logan def Beerwah 20-4
North Ipswich def Carina 42-18
Division 2
Due to representative commitments, Division 2 did not play
**Easter will give a week’s break for both Divisions, with the next round to kick back off on April 26.
