WYNDHAM City remedied the pain of Septembers past with a 35-0 whitewash of the Northern Panthers in the Victorian Rugby Union second division A grade grand final at Sparks Reserve on Saturday.
The Rhinos have been haunted by the memories of unlucky one-point losses in the 2009 and ’11 grand finals, but left nothing to chance on this occasion, pounding the minor premiers mercilessly for the full 80 minutes.
Click here for our huge gallery of the Rhinos’ grand final victory.
Rhinos coaching director Darren Taylor told the Weekly his team played without fear and carried no burden of the past into the game.
“We were so relaxed, so chilled and took the day in. We just got on with the job. We had been there and done it all before.”
The Lloyd Rohe-coached Rhinos found the best way to settle the nerves was to get into the thick of the action early.
They dominated the opening five minutes territorially and had the lion’s share of possession.
The underdogs crossed the line first after five minutes, but the try, claimed by Ricky Paraha, was disallowed for obstruction.
Still, it was a signal of intent from the Rhinos, who believed they found a chink in the Panthers armour.
“We thought it was a fair try,” Taylor said. “It was a massive hole but the referee paid obstruction. The butterflies went away because we were touching the ball early.”
It was only a matter of time before the Rhinos would strike.
Three minutes later, captain George Waru put centre Levi Clark into a gap for the game’s first try, and kicker Tipene Pihere added the extras to put the Rhinos up 7-0.
The Rhinos had the Panthers defence at sixes and sevens with crafty running backs Clark, Pihere, Filisione Pouta and Oscar Okurds running amok.
“It’s the way we planned it,” Taylor said. “We have too much speed not to use it.”
Tommy Leau chewed up the metres with a barge through the forward and dished off to Pouta for the second converted try and his 13th of the season to make it 14-0.
The Rhinos increased their buffer to 21-0 when Okurds crossed in the corner and Pihere scored from the tee.
Taylor said the message for his front-running side at half-time was to forget about the scoreboard and produce a similar performance in the second half.
“In our minds it was still nil-all,” he said. “We had to keep going.”
The champagne was undoubtedly in the chiller when Pihere turned from kicker to try-scorer to make it 28-0 when he converted from wide out.
The Panthers pressed to break the duck egg, but each time they put their best foot forward, they were met by a brutal and unyielding Rhinos defence.
The rampaging Rhinos crossed once more through Shannon Tutty and it was party time when Pihere made it five-from-five conversions.
Leau was named man of the match.
The Rhinos forward set the tone in attack and defence.
“He was tackling all day in defence,” Taylor said. “He’s our road train going to Darwin and not stopping to refuel. He causes so much havoc.”
Tevita Talau, the only player to feature in all four of the Rhinos grand finals, was brilliant in the line-outs.
So, too, was fellow line-out jumper Andre Petaia, along with thrower Joe Parese. The Rhinos will put a submission into the VRU for promotion to the Premier 1 Dewar Shield.
Before that, they will allow themselves some time to enjoy this incredible feat.
“Everyone is so happy,” Taylor said. “We’ve been chasing this one for a while.”
VRU grand final: Second division
A grade: Wyndham City Rhinos 35 d Northern Panthers 0
