St Marys Saints have booked their spot in next Sunday’s Grand Final after a convincing 52-0 win over the Glebe Dirty Reds in the Leagues Clubs Australia Ron Massey Cup Preliminary final at HE Laybutt Sporting Complex today.
The Saints bounced back with ease from their disappointing loss to the Wentworthville Magpies last week with a clinical performance, which kept the Dirty Reds scoreless for the full 80 minutes.
“In respect to how we played last week, being undefeated all season and the losing to Wentworthville, it was a wake up call,” Saints coach Darren Baker said.
St Marys will now have a chance at redemption against the Magpies at next Sunday’s (3 September) Grand Final at Nestrata Jubilee Stadium.
Preliminary Final: (1st) St Marys Saints 52 def (2nd) Glebe Dirty Reds 0
Despite coming out the blocks a little shakily, once the Saints found their feet there was no stopping the Minor Premiers who raced out to a 24-0 lead at half time.
St Marys right edge combination sparked their attack with two back-to-back tries in the opening 15 minutes (12-0).
Scoring the first try for the Saints, centre David Fale added a try assist to his name setting up his winger Christian Crichton to score his own four-pointer (18-0).
Right before halftime, winger Jake Tago found space on his outside shoulder, racing down the sideline to score his 17th try of the season. Halfback Zac Greene was perfect off the tee in the first half to help extend the lead to 24-0.
The Saints didn’t take their foot off the pedal in the second half as they continued to pile on points.
They extended their lead (30-0) through Anthony Layoun, who tested Glebe’s defence close to their line before sending a short pass to prop Antony Laria to crash over.
With the momentum firmly behind the Saints, they wasted no time scoring another two tries through forward Atonio Pelesara and Layoun to take the score out to 42-0.
The Saints remained relentless for the final 20 minutes of the game, with second rower Steven Tavia adding another four-pointer to the scoreboard before Tago scored his second for the afternoon brining the score to 52-0.
With eight of the 17 players crossing for a try, coach Baker believes while there were standout players today, he was happy to have seen a strong team performance from everyone.
“Our halfback Zac Greene along with our back five were exceptional for us through the middle today,” Baker said.
“However I think we showed what we could do as a team.
“It was a very good team effort; we are very happy with the team performance.
“We are ready to go next week.”
