Rugby Union: ARKS suffer disappointing weekend

ARKS rugby union players are confident there are better days ahead after they hosted a home carnival on Saturday against Mandurah.

Although the club did not win any of its three games, the women’s side fought out a 10-10 draw.

B Grade lost in a close tussle, 10-18 and A Grade lost 6-62.

The Ladies team were again short of players with injuries and other commitments reducing the number to 13.

Kalamunda have a good women’s squad and it showed with several replacement players on the sideline.

ARKS started with some very inexperienced players and Kalamunda exploited this with well-drilled fast backs who pounced on ARKS mistakes.

The ARKS forwards were equal to the Kalamunda squad, but with Kalamunda able to substitute with fresh players, they were able to turn the ball over.

B Grade started brightly and things were looking good for the home side after Asti Miller scored a converted try and Sean Davis kicked a penalty.

But Mandurah was not to be denied and at half time the score was 10–5.

The second half started badly for ARKS when they let Mandurah in for two easy tries to put them 15–10 ahead.

The game developed into a hard struggle with ARKS unable to score again.

A Grade was again short of players with some of the B Grade side running straight on again after their game.

Mandurah had a fresh, well-drilled team ready to go, putting pressure on ARKS right from the kickoff.

The scrum operated well but the lack of mobility of many of the forwards was a problem against the Mandurah pack that covered all the phases that ARKS was able to put together.

Mandurah also turned the ball over and scored freely, stretching the ARKS defence to breaking point.

The only scorer for ARKS was Davis with two penalties kicked from long range.

Although beaten, the ARKS players never stopped trying and most of the scores came from mistakes made from inexperience and the players not able to gel due to the high pressure exerted from Mandurah.