IT was another tough day at the office for the Blue Lake Knights rugby league team when it faced the reigning Limestone Coast league champions on Saturday.
The Knights travelled to Warrnambool to face the Naracoorte Jets, returning with a six-point loss.
Again the Knights were decimated by injury, with only 10 players left on the ground for the final 10 minutes of play.
However, club president Brenton Hodge was not making any excuses for the result.
“We just fell apart,” he said.
“We were injury ridden as it was, a bit short on numbers and we broke down.
“But so did they though.
“They had low numbers, so in the end it was a battle of the walking wounded.”
The overall scores showed and extra try for the Knights, but with only one conversion, the win went the way of the Jets.
“We had some hard kicks to convert our tries and the wind was terrible, but they did not miss theirs,” Hodge said.
“Our kicking game was the difference in the end.”
The first half of the contest saw a tight game, with the Knights up for the challenge.
However, injuries struck and just 11 players were left by the break.
That proved a difficult situation to overcome, with no subs on the bench and a whole half to play.
Hodge said that forced other players to stand up to the challenge.
“We are still building the team with some new guys this season, so it was a good opportunity for some of the boys who have not had much of a run to step up,” he said.
“Some of them were a bit nervous about it all and hadn’t quite been taken to task yet, but really didn’t have a choice.
“I was really proud of them to take the game on and get involved.
“That is a very big positive we will take from the game.”
One of the highlights of the game came from club stalwart Lloyd Pearce-Raisin, who has been a driving factor for the Knights.
He used a classic rugby league play to score a try, to the surprise of team mates, the opposition and the referee.
Pearce-Raisin chipped through the defensive line, then ran on and scored a try, which lifted the side somewhat.
“Lloyd caught them completely by surprise,” Hodge said.
“They were looking tired and were shaping up to receive him in the tackle.
“He just put the kick through, ran around and scored the try.
“Then the ref called the linesman and asked if he was off side.
“The linesman explained he was the kicker – he got there pretty quick.
“It was a cracker.”
The Knights can now take some time to recover from the first four rounds of competition, with a week off due to a bye, before the next game at home at Nangwarry oval.
“We have a very fortuitous break now,” Hodge said.
“We will look to rest our tired bodies, fix some of our niggling injuries, take stock of the team and see where we are at.
“Hopefully then we can put some wins on the board.”
