Hoppers finally recorded their first win of 2010 with victory over struggling Broadstreet. As neither side had registered a win this year something had to give. Even though Hoppers got off to the best start possible they floundered in the second half and allowed Broadstreet to attempt an unlikely comeback.
The home side were in the ascendancy from the outset and quickly got into their stride. After visiting prop Paul Hurst was shown a yellow card in the opening minutes for a punch, the home pack took control of proceedings and after electing to take a line out from the resulting penalty they used the catch and drive efficiently and Mark Irving scored on his return from injury. Nick Smith converted well from the touchline and Hoppers had a 7-0 lead.
After being camped in Broadstreet’s half for the majority of the man advantage Hoppers scored their second try in spectacular fashion. Street tried to clear their lines but a poor kick went straight to Tom Ball, who gathered well and shot down the left touch line. He then cut inside and beat a couple of would be tacklers before offloading a perfectly timed pass to a rampaging Sean Taylor who came on to the ball at pace and touched down by the posts. Smith again converted and the home support was reminded of the kind of free flowing attacking rugby that Hoppers had been playing before the extended Christmas break. Smith added a penalty a couple of minutes later and Hoppers had scored 17 points with the man advantage.
The third try came just before the half hour mark again as a result of a brilliant individual break. This time it was Alex Zavallis-Roebuck who broke the line from a set move before showing great strength to not only fend off one would be tackler but to drag a couple more a few extra yards sucking in more Street players. Hoppers were able to recycle the ball quickly and used the space well, moving the ball quickly to the left where men were lined up and Ben Davey was on hand to score. Broadstreet tried to get something before the half but were denied by some strong defence, in particular a fantastic try saving tackle by Zavallis-Roebuck right at the end of the half.
Hoppers took a 22-0 advantage into the break and must have been relishing an easy second half but the game was turned on its head and things did not go to plan.
In a reversal of fortune it was now Hoppers turn to play with a man disadvantage as Jordan Pearson was surprisingly shown a yellow card just minutes after the restart. He was quickly joined by John Young, for handling at the ruck, who had only come on to the field as a half time replacement.
With Hoppers down to 13 men Street threw everything at them but were met with a resolute defence. The visitors finally made their man advantage count when Wayne Lester found himself with a two-on-one, Lester backed his own ability and made it to the line. Street added a second try ten minutes later when Andy McGrory latched on to a perfectly weighted cross field kick and won the foot race to the corner. McGrory used his strength to shake of the covering defence but should never have been allowed to score from such a tight position.
Hoppers never got back into rhythm during the second half and replacement Nick Thatcher powered over in the closing minutes to set up a tense finish. Street had moved the ball from left to right and stretched the home defence to the limits, although Hoppers effectively slowed down the ball there were gaps in the line and Thatcher picked on a smaller opponent and smashed straight through him, Dan Richards slotted the conversion to bring the visitors back from the dead and they were now trailing by just five points with five minutes to go. However, Broadstreet never really got a chance as the rest of the game was played deep in their half.
However, even though another match seemed to be slipping away, Hoppers hung on for a much needed win but the first half performance shows what they are capable of doing, with a dominant performance from the pack in the loose and at set plays and the young backs carving the opposition apart on a number of occasions.
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