Hills come alive with cheers

By Ben Hope
ENDEAVOUR Hills continued its undefeated A-Grade season with its first away game, against Monash University, on Saturday.
Coach Archie Kennedy said Endeavour Hills was short of players in reserve because of absences and had to send in assistant coach Paul Maihi during the second half.
“Putting Maihi in wasn’t ideal but we only had two backs and two forwards in reserve,” Kennedy said.
“We were all over the place with missing players but we should be back to full strength next week.”
The low numbers did little to dampen the Hills attack as it matched Monash try for try throughout the first half. After an early Monash try Danny Tauti levelled the score with an interception through the unsuspecting Monash defence.
The home team preferred to kick for touch rather than face the eager Hills attack throughout the game and it wasn’t until the Hills changed tactics and ran the ball that it started to get closer to the line.
The Hills continued to keep pace with Monash throughout the first half until a late try left Monash three points ahead going into the break.
In the final 40 minutes the Hills used any advantage to find gaps in the Monash defence and came out firing with a lightning run from Malifa Taeleipu, who was too quick for the Monash defence and put the Hills ahead.
A determined Monash side was quick to reply but accurate conversions kept the Hills in front, with some hard tackles from Setu Felise keeping the pressure on the Monash front row.
After last week’s 0/6 conversion rate, Peta Salesalu must have been working on his accuracy at training as he made 4/6 to keep the Hills in front.
Backs coach Paul Maihi gave the Hills an added boost in the final minutes and the team sealed victory after a final push that gave it the win, 38-31.
Kennedy said he was happy with the condition of his team after its second win of the season.
“Our fitness was a lot better today and we hung in the game until the end,” he said.
“I think we will continue to get better as the season continues.”
There were similar player problems for the B-Grade Hills team that led to a 28-0 loss to Melton on Saturday. However, the Hills/ St Xavier C-Grade made up for its first-round loss with a 34-10 win against Ballarat Uni/St Pats OC in Ballarat.
There was more good news for the Hills from the Colts team with a huge 57-8 victory against Eltham at Frog Hollow.