The Rams, Ewes and Under 14s Yass rugby union sides all played at Victoria Park on Saturday which was a special day for the Club.
For the Rams and Ewes, it would both be their final games of the season and was an exceptional achievement getting back on the park in 2023 following a year in the abyss last year.
The Ewes hosted Goulburn in glorious conditions with the Goulburn ladies sitting in second position on the table and in red hot form they were always going to be a handful for Yass who were once again short on numbers and played without any reserves.
The Ewes battled bravely against a rampaging Dirty Reds, but some loose defence ultimately saw the final score blow out to 59-5 in favour of the visitors.
The lone try scorer for Yass was Takira Gaspari in her debut for the home side.
Despite the result, the Ewes have had a positive season overall with a couple of wins and a draw. More importantly, they have recruited some promising young players this season and will look to build and improve over the off-season.
Ewes Coach Nathan Cooke said despite the results, the Club enjoyed a great day together at Victoria Park.
“We only had 10 players on Saturday, which was the bare minimum needed to play the game. Goulburn are sitting quite high on the ladder in second and are a very good team. They were undefeated last year on their way to becoming premiers,” Cooke said.
“It was always going to be a tough game. Our girls put up a bit of a fight for the first half, it was only 20-5 at halftime. We ran out of puff in the second half, and they started cycling their reserves on and we didn’t have any reserves to play.
“But the girls hung in and played really well. They played a good style of football. We kept the ball for as long as we could and attacked for a good amount of phases a few times.
“It was a great day out at Vic Park all round. We had the under-14s play before us and the men’s team. There was a little bit of rain about but it held off for the most part.
“The under 14s beat Uni North Owls, they were playing two men short, 13 against 15, and still got away with a 19-17 win.
“The Rams had a good win too. The Boars were a couple of players short, Yass was going to lend them a few, but they didn’t need them in the end.
“It was a good day of rugby to watch as a supporter. We had our standard end-of-game presentation and points back at the Clubhouse, Batemans Bay came back too.
“Even though we had a loss, it was still a positive way to finish the year. The girls still stuck in, they played their game and improved immensely from last year. They look like a real well-rounded sort of football team now.
“There’s definitely something we can build on for next year. It’s just a matter of recruiting and trying to get a few more girls interested to play next year.”
For the Rams, a combined Batemans Bay/Broulee travelled to Yass a bit light on numbers but fortunately, a few stray Magpies swooped in from the carpark to bolster their numbers before kick-off.
The Rams were determined to put in a solid performance in their final game at home for the year and were ruthless in the first half, posting 34 unanswered points and delighting the crowd with a great display of running rugby.
The visitors refused to roll over but couldn’t keep pace with a dominant Rams side that finished with a solid 66-19 win.
Try scorers for the Rams were Tom Girdler, Cam Locke, Will Bugden, Jacob Beissner, and Sam Clark, and two tries each to Brody Anderson and Harrison Locke.
A penalty try was also awarded and Harry Roach had an outstanding day with the boot, slotting seven conversions.
Unfortunately, the Rams have narrowly missed out on a spot in the finals this season, but the fact they were still in contention right until the end is an outstanding result for a young side in their first season together.
They also managed to knock over two of the top three teams in the competition this year and will certainly be a team to watch in 2024.
Tim Warren
