The traditional minute silence for the ANZAC weekend brought out the pride in both teams, who had everything to play for. Both were coming off victories from round three; the Redfern All Blacks thumped Mascot while Moore Park secured their first win of the season against South Eastern.
It was the home side that came firing out of the blocks, and lack of discipline and countless errors from the All Blacks saw Moore Park 8-0 up within the opening minutes.
But an interchange by All Blacks player-coach Dean Widders, and some smart attack work from Steven Smith and Mark Hickey narrowed the difference to two points.
From this point onwards, the game shifted momentum. The All Blacks made every set count – even while down one man (backrower Robert Ryan was out for a professional foul).
The Moore Park defence was not able to cope with the pace and strength of the All Blacks attack. Apart from a try from Moore Park with 10 minutes to play, the momentum was with the Redfern side throughout the second half. A great solo effort from Shane Nolan saw the forward manoeuver his way through the Moore Park defence, finishing off the All Blacks afternoon with a 42-20 victory.
Widders was once again pleased with his side’s attacking display and credited the impact of the youth of the squad. “It was great for our character. They came out with everything; they had a lot of momentum and were on top for big periods of that first half.
“It is all about that 80 minutes and playing for the full game and sticking at it under pressure. Under fatigue we were able to hang in there and that was the difference today. We handled their moments when they had all the momentum better then what they did when we had it.
“So that’s what we wanted to do as a team; our young blokes today just stood up.”
