Ballina Shire teams well-represented in rugby grand finals
It’s on for young and old when Ballina Shire rugby union teams contest grand finals this weekend.
Heading the list is, of course, first grade, with defending premiers Lennox Head taking on Lismore at Lismore on Saturday in the senior grand final.
After a slow start to the season, Lennox Head have won their past eight games, including last Saturday’s win over minor premiers Ballina in the preliminary final, to qualify for the big one.
In second grade, Ballina take on Lismore, with the scenario the same in third grade.
Wollongbar-Alstonville take on Lismore in the Under-19 decider.
Ballina Shire teams also are strongly represented in the junior grand finals, to be played at Bangalow on Friday nigt.
In Under-10 exhibition matches, Lennox Head play Lismore White, while Ballina features in the other Under-10 game, playing Casino.
It’s a Ballina Shire local derby in the Under-12s, with Lennox Head White taking on Wollongbar Alstonville Red for the Mick Melino Shield.
Mick Melino grew up on his parents’ farm near Wardell and attended Ballina High School. He now is heavily involved in FNC senior rugby as a referee.
Lennox Head will feature in the Under-14s, taking on Lismore for the John Drysdale Shield, named after a former administrator and publicity officer for FNC rugby.
Meanwhile, Wollongbar Alstonville has won two junior grand finals.
The Under-16s beat Casino 18-14, and the Under-15s beat Yamba 39-3.
Lennox Head contested the Under-17 grand final, losing 20-0 to Casino.
UNDER-17s
Casino 20 (Cameron Patton-Davis 2, Joseph Melino tries, Stephen Murchie conversion, penalty goal) d Lennox Head 0.
UNDER-16s
Wollongbar Alstonville 18 (Rowan Perry, Michael Marsh tries, Eli Crowther conversion, penalty goal, Reece Manning drop goal) d Casino 14 (Jesse Bowden, Brendan Williams tries, Harold Torrens 2 conversion).
UNDER-15s
Wollongbar Alstonville 39 (Tim Ellis 2, Andrew Parkes 2, Jake McIntyre, Rohan Napoli tries, Jake McIntyre 3 conversions, penalty goal) d Yamba 3 (Garnet Williams penalty goal).
Semi-final results:
UNDER-14s
Lismore 12 d Wollongbar Alstonville Red 5, Lennox Head 22 d Brunswick Valley 12.
UNDER-13s
Lismore 24 d Lennox Head 5, Bangalow 22 d Grafton 0.
UNDER-12s
Wollongbar Red 17 d Lismore 12, Lennox White 45 d Lennox Green 0.
The weekend’s draw is (all senior games at Lismore’s Crozier Field):
1st Grade – Lismore v Lennox Head – 4.45pm.
2nd Grade – Ballina v Lismore – 3pm.
Under-19s – Wollongbar Alstonville v Lismore – 1.30pm.
Village Comp – Bangalow v Yamba – noon.
3rd Grade – Ballina v Lismore – 10.45am.
Teams:
Lismore: 1 Keith Morris, 2 Stephen Prosser, 3 Matt Collins, 4 Matt Larsson, 5 Craig Bryant, 6 Heath Conlan (C.), 7 Glenn Paisley, 8 Ray Taylor, 9 Ben Felicioni, 10 Tim Birmingham, 11 Greg Hughes, 12 Will Cotterill, 13 Stephen Hughes, 14 Craig Jones, 15 Nigel Marshall.
Coach: Ron Cox.
V
Lennox Head: 1 Corey Windle, 2 Jamie Tredinnick (C.), 3 Matt Liddle, 4, Richard Jeffers, 5 James Coventry, 6 Luke Schaefer, 7 Daniel Watt, 8 Jeff Wilson, 9 Tony Buchanan, 10 Mathew Barnes, 11 Matthew Aherne, 12 Sam Stewart, 13 Braidon Boniface, 14 James Barnes, 15 Adam Gordon, 16 Andrew Creagh, 17 John Peacock, 18 Dane Bellato, 19 Tom Sandstrom, 20 James Kirkwood, 21 Jaysen Thompson, 22 Matt Gibson, 23 Anthony Fitzpatrick, 24 Joe Witt (2 to be omitted).
Coach: Paul Jeffrey.
Referee: Graham Cook.
Assistant Referees: Rob Walker, Chris Wilkinson.
Reserve Grade 3.00pm
Ballina: 1 Syd Etuati, 2 Steve Calnan, 3 Craig Dangar, 4 Will O’Donnell, 5 Craig Davy, 6 Tom Farrell, 7 Liam Preston, 8 Brett McLennan, 9 Lee Thomas, 10 Beau Milner, 11 Ben Robinson, 12 Chris Lynch, 13 Trent Short, 14 Matthew Costello, 15 Andrew Gordon, 16 Mark Charter, 17 Geoff St Clair, 18 Harry Bungate, 19 Jake Smith.
Coach: Mick McGregor.
V
Lismore: 1 Corey Gray, 2 Doug Rose, 3 Andrew Patterson, 4 Cerrig Wilson, 5 Paul Ryan, 6 Vaughan Nilsson (C.), 7 Jesse Gill, 8 Corey Fraser, 9 Josh Creighton, 10 Mark Sivewright, 11 Reece Moore, 12 Johnson Porykali, 13 Jimmy Bull, 14 Rick Larsson, 15 John Lea, 16 Stuart Rose, 17 Stewart Edmonds, 18 Gibbson Porykali, 19 Dion Crethar, 20 Richard Rummery, 21 Josh Painter, 22 Grant Little.
Coach: Phil Barr.
Referee: Steve Williamson.
Assistant Referees: Allan Thomas, Peter Brown.
Under-19s 1.30pm
Wollongbar Alstonville: 1 Mitchell Greig, 2 Stuart Highlands, 3 Harry Warnes, 4 Matthew Knights, 5 Shaun Ellis, 6 Luke Lubrano, 7 Jeremy Tozer, 8 Sam Jones, 9 Darren Finati, 10 Kahliff Glass (C.), 11 Nick Dufficy, 12 Alex Watson, 13 Sam Marsh, 14 Jarryd Bailey, 15 Phil Ralph, 16 Brodie McIntyre, 17 Scott Biddell-Brown, 18 Matt O’Neill, 19 Mitchell Pennisi, 20 Nathan Lynn, 21 John Cochrane, 22 Hamish Millane.
Coach: Neil Glass.
V
Lismore: 1 Tim Anderson, 2 Aaron Moreton, 3 David Gaudron, 4 Trent Paschkow, 5 James Bain, 6 Josh Painter, 7 Mitch Bell, 8 Dominic Morris, 9 Andrew Lynch, 10 Sam Cox, 11 Martin Clarke, 12 Jake Lennon, 13 Sam Flynn, 14 Chris Clark (C.), 15 Sean Cox, 16 Nathan Anderson, 17 Brendan Fry, 18 Liam Harper, 19 Graeme Walker, 20 Rob Collings, 21 David Akkersdyk.
Coach: David McKee.
Referee: Darren Winkler.
Assistant Referees: Karl Lupton, Ian Lord.
Village Competition 12:00 Noon
BANGALOW: 1 James Williams, 2 Dan Hill, 3 Neil Moran, 4 Chris Davies, 5 Richard Kelly (C.), 6 Simon Leighton, 7 Brett Starkey, 8 Andrew Griffiths, 9 Kegs Jennings, 10 Jock Craigie, 11 Brad Peat, 12 Nick Hornery, 13 Dick Collin, 14 Jake McKinnon, 15 Chris Bleakley, 16 Brad Hill, 17 Nigel Beard, 18 Greg Cromwell, 19 Tom Clapham, 20 Andrew Gribble, 21 Michael Busby, 22 Brad Richards.
Coach: Simon Balcon.
V
YAMBA: 1 Ashley Keating, 2 Robert Bell, 3 Dan Kelly, 4 Jackson Lucas, 5 Dane Mitchell, 6 Grant Rooks, 7 Cohen Rheinberger, 8 Luke Turner (C.), 9 Byron Aitken, 10 Kris Thomsen, 11 Joe Timbs-Nelmes, 12 Ben Anderson, 13 Tristan Allard, 14 Shaun Jackson, 15 Scott Moore, 16 Connor Webster, 17 Andrew Ford, 18 Paul Cassidy, 19 Josh Burnes, 20 Paul Hope, 21 Brody Rheinberger, 22 Damian Glover, 23 James O’Hara (one to be omitted).
Coaches: James O’Hara/Andrew Ford.
Referee: Mick Melino.
Assistant Referees: Aaron Reid, Greg Den Elzen.
Third Grade 10.45am
Ballina: 1 Geoff St Clair, 2 Joel McMahon, 3 John Doktor, 4 Kevin Clarke, 5 Chris Hammond, 6 Geoff Parry, 7 Danny Lickiss, 8 Mick Koellner (C.), 9 Ross Tremayne, 10 Paul Lynch, 11 John Schmetzer, 12 Grant Clements, 13 Vernon Ware, 14 Ben Leon, 15 Mark Williams, 16 Paul Hardy, 17 Al Barrett, 18 Dan Cotes, 19 Rob Rayner, 20 Nick Oaariki, 21 Guy Reed, 22 Lincoln Raudonikis.
Coach: Mick Koellner.
V
Lismore: 1 Dave Malthouse, 2 Damien Keys, 3 Stewart Edmonds, 4 Gavin Tulk, 5 Daniel Biersteker, 6 Gibbson Porykali, 7 Richard Rummery, 8 Damien Maher (C.), 9 Josh Creighton, 10 Mark Sivewright, 11 Ben Pepper, 12 Mitch Mowle, 13 Luke Palaziol, 14 Chris Millane, 15 Dion Crethar, 16 Matthew Lickiss, 17 Chris Doolan, 18 Johnson Porykali, 19 Ron Cox, 20 Kelven Singh, 21 Guy Latham, 22 Jesse Webster.
Coach: Kelven Singh.
Referee: Gervase Bertus.
Assistant Referees: Callum O’Grady, Will Palmer.
Friday 11th SEPTEMBER 2008 at Bangalow Sports Grounds:
Under 10 Exhibition Matches
5:40 – LENNOX HEAD v LISMORE WHITE (1v2)
5:40 – BALLINA v CASINO (3v4)
Under 12s
MICK MELINO SHIELD
6:30 – Lennox Head White v Wollongbar Alstonville Red
Under 13s
RAY SEARGENT SHIELD
7:30 – BANGALOW v LISMORE
Under 14s
JOHN DRYSDALE SHIELD
8:40 – LISMORE v LENNOX HEAD
