‘No-show’ fires Hills’ coach

Endeavour Hills veteran Paul Ioane was in fine form on Saturday, running home two tries against Warrnambool. Picture courtesy Ashley White

By Stuart Teather
ENDEAVOUR Hills’ Victorian Rugby Union double-header at Melton on Saturday turned into a farce as the majority of the club’s B-team did not show up for their match.
The A-team had a convincing 36-12 win against Warrnambool in what was to be the second game of the day, but it turned out to be the only match played as the B-team forfeited its match against Melton.
There was a case of deja vu to the forfeit as back in round-two Melton forfeited its clash with the Endeavour Hills A-team.
As to why the Hills’ B-grade players did not make the trip to Melton, club officials were in the dark.
“It’s a good question, we haven’t worked it out,” club president Ashley White said.
“It’s disappointing, but it does happen from time to time, you get the numbers at training, but for some reason they don’t make it and you get a late forfeit.
“Luckily we had a double-header, so it wasn’t so much of an issue.”
Coach Jeff Lemalu was far more scathing in his assessment, promising to punish the players on the training track.
With the club fighting to get back up to the Premier Division – the top level of rugby union in Victoria – Lemalu said forfeits harmed its position.
“It affects us a lot, as the senior coach you work your arse off to try and get your team and club back to Premier grade, and if you see those things happen it’s a bit of a kick in the face,” he said.
“It’s something we need to talk about this week at training, to find out who wants to be at the club.”
As for the Hills’ A-team, the side recovered from a slow start in shocking conditions to overpower the inexperienced Warrnambool Plovers.
The club’s oldest player, Paul Ioane, was on song all day running home two tries and was the standout man on the field.
Hills’ stars Junior Salesulu and Loni Folau were missing from the match, but it made little difference as the side cruised to victory.
However Lemalu said his charges again started poorly and they could not afford to do that this week in the top-of-the-table clash with the undefeated Geelong.
“It was a very slow first half, I think the boys kind of think that Warrnambool was going to be a walkover,” he said.
“But it’s good, it was a bit of a kick up the arse on Saturday before the game against Geelong.”
The Hills have been scheduled for another double-header this Saturday, with the B-team to take on Warrnambool before the A-team’s clash with Geelong, with both games at Geelong.