Red card hits Rocky hard

A final-quarter flourish by UWA condemned Rockingham to defeat at Lark Hill on Sunday.

The home side opened strongly, taking the game up to their more fancied rivals with early points coming from the boot of captain AJ Smith.

A seemingly harsh red card to Rockingham number eight Ryan Tyrrell came inside 15 minutes and UWA began to find their way into the contest with a one-man advantage.

Points were hard to come by for the visitors with Rocky’s defence forcing them to take penalties.

Rockingham played a strong running game. Despite their disadvantage, Shaun Cooper and Nathan Lansdell had success penetrating the opposition backs.

Rockingham led 21-20 going into the final quarter but UWA turned things around with two late tries on the way to a 34-21 win.

Coach Willie Van Dyk praised his side’s efforts.

“What great courage and teamwork playing 70 minutres with 14 men,” he said. “Now we are a team and we will just get stronger and stronger, excellent work.”

Reserve grade struggled against UWA and only managed a solitary try, going down 37-7.

It was more of the same for fourth grade as they squandered a number of chances and suffered a heavy 42-5 defeat.