The Bulls ran in two tries to one in a somewhat scrappy encounter marred with penalties and handling errors but Kalamunda coach Josh Heke said he was happy with the effort his side showed to get the win.
“We are still a fair way away from where we need to be but we will take the win,” he said.
Bulls captain Russell Burgess said the side was ecstatic to claim the trophy against a tough UWA outfit.
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READ NOW“Uni jumped us with a few penalties early on but it was good to see the boys stick it out for the 80 minutes.”
After a scoreless first 15 minutes, with majority of the rugby played between the two 22m lines, Kalamunda took their opportunity for early points, earning a penalty directly in front of the posts.
Alex Oakley made no mistake to open the scoring. UWA answered immediately through a penalty from Anthony Hondras to level at 3-3.
Hondras then added another three to his tally with a sweetly struck penalty from beyond 40m.
Kalamunda’s ill discipline continued to hurt them, as they infringed at the breakdown, allowing the young flyhalf to extend UWA’s lead to six points, 9-3. After sustained pressure in the UWA 22, Kalamunda went devastatingly close to scoring the first try of the match, only for Nick Pearson to be held up over the line.
Following the resulting scrum, Kalamunda swung the ball left before coming back infield to find Beau King, who barged his way over from 5m in the shadows of half-time.
Oakley converted with ease to put the Bulls ahead 10-9 at the break.
UWA inside centre Junior Sifa was shown yellow early in the second half and Kalamunda took full advantage, scoring a brilliant try starting from halfway. Bulls hooker Ben Rumble found himself in out wide and showed pace and skill to throw a dummy and break into the 22, before putting in a grubber kick for his skipper Russell Burges, who pounced on the ball to extend the lead to 15-9.
Sensing the momentum in their favour, Kalamunda put their foot down to score their third of the match just minutes later, with Isiah Malcolm going over in the right-hand corner to have the Bulls up 20-9.
Spurred on by the crowd, the students broke through for their first try of the match, which was converted to close the gap to four points, 20-16.