Southern Lions visited Kalamunda on the weekend and although none of our teams came away with the win all teams walked away able to hold their heads high.

The Colts looked about evens until the back end of the second half when Associates pulled away to add several late tries. However, the Lions finished strong and went over in the corner to finish on a high note to end up second best at 25-43. Given the numbers available to the team throughout pre-season it was good to see the lads remain competitive and to have some numbers on the bench.

Chalky’s Third Herd acquitted themselves well with some grinding rugby but again, lack of numbers through pre-season was showing in some of the cohesion on the paddock, going down 12-31.

2nds went down 41-24 but the final score did not reflect the quality of rugby played by the Lions with the 2nd's scrum remaining competitive throughout the day and some slick handling out wide. Of interest were the Hinder boys Ra and Ben taking the field together for the first time in Reserves! The family that plays together, stay together!

1sts were bolstered by the addition of Force recruit Fergus Lee Warner and a different line up in both forwards and backs took the field than played against Cottesloe last week, changes largely forced due to injury.

Taking on the Bulls up front was always going to be a hard task and this showed early with the scrum not settling well. However, the ¾ line played very well and outshone and outpaced their opposite numbers in the Bulls backline to go into the break 21-10 up. The injury toll continued with Ben Carr earning the pleasure of Ronan’s company and a trip to hospital with a dislocated finger.

Unfortunately the Bulls rallied and the Lions failed to secure the kick off at the restart, allowing Kalamunda to muscle their way back into the game immediately after half time. Matters weren’t helped when Dan Swain got 10 minutes in the bin to the displeasure of the crowd. Kalamunda held this momentum and piled on 19 points (including a scrum based penalty try). However, it wasn’t all one way traffic and the Lions took another two penalties to bring the score to 29-26.

Returned to a full 15 the momentum swung back the Lions way who looked threatening with ball in hand out wide. With minutes to play the Bulls reverted to type and tried to grind out a win by keeping the ball in Fat Man’s Alley and rucking it out. A full 15 phases of one out rucking ensued as the clock wound down until one of the Bulls went off his feet and the ref pinged him.

Brad Fell spurned the chance to take the draw from 30 out dead in front and with his troops (and the vocal crowd of Lions faithful) urging him to go for the corner ordered the ball punted into touch for the lineout. Although Fortune favours the brave, Fortune must have been looking elsewhere at that moment as the ball came askew at the lineout and the Bulls hoofed it into touch for a 3 point win.

Coach Brett Fell had nothing but praise for the team after the game. “The boys played a lot of rugby today and really put in a courageous effort. They spread the ball wide and really threatened the line with ball in hand”.

“Yeah, we struggled with the scrum and it’s hard to get on the front foot when that’s going backwards and our lineout misfired a bit too. But even then, the boys showed a lot of character today, especially to go for the win at the end like that. When you think about it Pally have lost two games and don’t have a point, we got the point for coming within 7, so we’re doing better than Pally at this stage. I think that today shows that the boys really believe in themselves and are prepared to back each other which is what we want to see.”

“It’s just the one percenters that are hurting us and, at this level, depth is vital as well”.

When asked about next week’s challenge against Joondalup Brett remained positive. “Yes, it will be a hell of challenge but the boys are learning week to week and that’s what we want to see coming out of Division 2.”

Brett was also complimentary about all the rugby he’d see that afternoon suggesting that Colts and 3rd would come together eventually and agreeing that the score did not reflect the game in second grade.

Captain Brad was similarly upbeat pleased that for large patches the Lions were dominant in possession and territory. He was particularly happy with the team’s ability to capitalise on the opposition's errors and create genuine counter attacking chances from them.

“Last year they’re a top six side and to go in ahead at the break was good. Our own errors let them back into the game but the boys all played with some real aggression and took their chances when they came our way.”

Club Captain Ra Hinder was equally positive at the post match speeches stating that “This is what we came up for, to be challenged and to see how good we were against the top teams”.

He was equally complimentary about the Lions spirit with some of the defunct 18’s being folded into Colts and Colts backing up into 2nds, as well as 3rds and then reserves backing up for seniors.

Kalamunda President (and former RugbyWA Board Member who sat on deliberations for the Lions' admission to the Premiership) Trevor Cook was equally complimentary welcoming us to the Premiership competition by saying: “You guys played some great rugby today. You out thought us and out flanked us but were unfortunate not to come away with the win”.

So, despite not bringing home the bacon (or if we’d beaten the Bulls it would have been beef I suppose) it was a fantastic day’s rugby for the Lions faithful.