ROUND 17 RESULTS Saturday 15th August saw Wests four Grade Teams playing Kalamunda at Hartfield whilst Under 20’s played Nedlands Blue at the Foreshore. 1st Grade: 1sts followed on taking on a very slick Kala side that had 3 players from the Force Academy playing for them. Wests had lost Heremaia Te Aute with flu and also Matt O’Brien with an injury and Anthony Tait with hamstring problems, both Heremaia and Matt having scored two tries each when we played Kala in the 1st round. For Jared McGreevy it was his 100th run on 1st Grade game. For the first 20 minutes it was a fairly even contest with Kala leading 20-7, however then Kala’s slick running backs opened up and piled on try after try and Wests went down 91-19. A bit of an aberration after previous weeks of being competitive, however as Coach Wayne Gibson said after the game to the players, “now you know what is needed to play 1st Grade” by seeing how the Kala players played. Next week is the last game of the season with Neddies visiting Rosalie Park, so it will be another tough one. 2nd Grade: 2nds were also short on numbers, however with a few taken from other grades and some Under 20’s playing another game they managed to get a side out on the park with a couple of subs on the bench. Kala was assured of a finals spot and with a makeshift side Wests did well to contain them at the start, however the pressure told and Kala went on to win 53-10. Try scorer for Wests was Tom Debuf whilst Craig Barrett kicked a conversion and a penalty. Under 20's: 20’s played Nedlands 2nd team at the Foreshore at 10.00am, so it was an early start for all. The conditions weren’t pleasant with a strong wind and squally showers. Wests played into the wind in the first half and led 15-0 at the break with tries to Nick Kehoe and Bunya Corradine (2) who was probably the best player on the ground. They turned with the wind in the second half but couldn’t add to their score, turning over the ball towards the end of the game and letting Nedlands score and convert, finally winning 15-7. Not a very impressive display, with players being guilty of loose play, i.e. not going to ground and setting up the ruck, rather throwing a ‘hail mary’ pass and hoping for the best. A big improvement is needed for this Saturday and then finals. 3rd Grade: 3rds took on top of the ladder leaders Kalamunda who had players in there that were capable 1st Graders. 3rds were struggling for numbers and a number of 4th Graders stepped up and helped out. With a makeshift team the guys never gave in however they found the slickness of the Kala backs too much to handle and went down 71-3, with Scotty Blakemore kicking a penalty. Thanks to the 4ths and some 2nds helping out the 3rds. 4th Grade: 4ths took on a Kala team wanting to consolidate their 4th spot on the ladder, whilst Wests were in 2nd and needed a win to make sure of that spot come finals. Wests started off well and by half time led 19-3. Kala came back in the second half and three quick tries saw them come back to 18-19 with about 5 minutes to go, (once again the Ref didn’t know that 4ths only play 30 minutes and he played 35s both halves!!!!!). Wests withstood some heavy pressure and then broke down field where they got a penalty almost in front of the posts on the 22, which Scott Blakemore converted and it ended Wests 22 Kalamunda 18, so a good win for 4ths. Try scorers were Kim Grace, Andrew Robertson and Steve Freeman whilst Scott Blakemore kicked 2 conversions and a penalty.