The Coghill Times
By Shaniah Dhue
Game Of The Year
This game was dedicated to Tom because this year has been a big year for him. His brother was driving under the influence of alcohol, in this accident he ended up critically injuring someone and killed another two people. His brother is now in jail.
The Brennan's left Mumbili due to the town not liking their family after what happened with Tom's brother. This meant that Tom had to leave St John's and go to Bennie's, this game would be the first time that Tom will be seeing the St John's players since moving to Coghill.
I watched them shake hands. 'All the best,' Matt said. Tonelli grunted.
Bennie's went to the break 9-0 down, the first half had been tough but scrappy with a lot of dropped balls. Jimmy's last-ditch try-saving tackles meant that Bennie's line hadn't been broken.
At half-time Bennie's was still in the game with a hope. Harvey the Bennie's coach hammered home, telling the boys 'stay focused!'
Harvey gave out instructions, 'Rory, kick it down there and we'll play it in their quarter. Jimmy, pin your ears back and put pressure on the back three. Let them make the mistakes. They're feeling the strain too.'
Harvey clapped his hands and yelled 'You're not out of this, boys.'
The second half has started it was more free-flowing for Bennie's, this was the type of play St John's liked, the ball swinging across the field and from end to end. Bennie's were holding firm, still no tries. Bennie's player Rory kicked the ball downfield, St John's full-back knocked on, it was Bennie's scrum twenty metres out. Tom Brennan St John's ex-player who now plays for Bennie's tapped Gonzales, Bennie's lock on the back. You could hear Harrigan yelling support 'Huge effort, boys!'
Gonzales picked the ball up from the back of the scrum and broke wide, taking the St John's lock and breakaway in the tackle, Gonzales through a desperate pass as he fell to Tom, Tom spotted the gap outpacing the the cover, and dived between the poles.
The score was 9-7, St John's were just in front unheard of against Bennie's. St John's picked up there pace, the desperation in this game was crazy. There was just over ten minutes left in the game Bennie's were defending on their line, with it still being any ones game as there had been no further score yet. The crowed was cheering, 'Go the red machine.' There was a scrum on Bennie's line, the desperation had reached the crowed now, St John's were screaming 'push over, push over boys!'
But at that moment through all the grunting and straining, alone St John's voice rose above the rest and yelled 'Killer Brennan'.
All you could see was Tom Brennan stagger backwards, those words hit him like bolts of electricity. With a grunt the Bennie's players gripped tighter, you could hear the effort in the Bennie's groans as they continued to dig deep. You could tell this was really for Tom Brennan.
The final siren sounded, the score still remains 7-9 but you would think Bennie's had won with the way they were jumping around all over and the St John's boys just looked on.