Junior Salesulu was in sparkling touch once again, scoring one of Endeavour Hills’ three tries in its 22-11 win over Eltham on Saturday. Picture: Luke Plummer.By Marc McGowan
DESPERATION drove Endeavour Hills to a 22-11 victory over Eltham in Victorian Rugby Union Premier One action at Bridge Street on Saturday.
The win was just the Hills’ second of the season through eight rounds and follows a promising – yet fruitless – month of play.
Endeavour Hills also overcame the loss of playmaker Tim Finau, who received a late call-up on Friday for the Melbourne Axemen’s match against the Adelaide Falcons.
Captain Presley Naea (knee), Oge Toala (hamstring) and Loni Folau (shoulder) all suffered injuries on the weekend to make the visitors’ performance even more impressive.
Rising star Junior Salesulu shone again and joined Oge Toala in scoring first-half tries which helped the Hills establish a 12-5 advantage at half-time.
Endeavour Hills altered its attacking style to suit the wet conditions and powered away with the contest on resumption.
Paul Tusa crossed for the Hills and Toala added a penalty goal in the final 40 minutes to complement the strong play of Salesulu, hooker Ahli Shadrock and locks Luke Buckton and Harry Taivai.
Endeavour Hills coach Jeff Lemalu was thrilled to end the club’s four-match losing streak.
“It’s been a long time coming, but finally it’s here,” he said.
“The focus was to get a good start because over the last six weeks we’ve almost always started from behind, but I think we had a very good start.”
Despite his players displaying much-improved form over the past month, Lemalu knew it was judgement day for his side.
“I think the game was real desperate times for us. We needed to win and I reckon we’re playing all right,” he said.
“As a team we were pretty rusty in some patches, but our overall performance was good.”
The other five Hills teams were also successful on the weekend.
Endeavour Hills faces Power House at Albert Park on Saturday at 3.15pm.
