By David Nagel
The Pakenham Eels found themselves in familiar conditions on Saturday…with cold, wet conditions greeting the junior and senior sides as they hit the road on some tough away trips.
Winter well and truly struck as round six of the Storm Junior League took place along with round 10 of the Storm Premiership Second Grade Men’s Senior Competition.
The juniors were keen to run around and keep warm as they braved freezing cold conditions at Peninsula Reserve in Frankston.
Extremely windy conditions also made life difficult for the younger age groups…including tag competitions.
The Pakenham Eels Girls Under-15 team then faced a very quick ball-moving-team in the Frankston Raiders.
The Raiders seized many of their opportunities in the first half to expose the Eels defence, making good use of tap restarts.
The first half was fairly one sided before Pakenham put some tries on the scoreboard leading into the half time break.
This put them in good stead for the second half.
Despite a courageous comeback after half time the Raiders proved too strong, winning an offensive and high-scoring game 80-52.
Kassidy and Brooklyn Kahotea were outstanding for the Eels, with Kassidy scoring four tries and Brooklyn touching down for three to complete her hat-trick.
The men’s team was fired up for a big performance as it headed across the Westgate with redemption on its mind after last week’s 34-4 loss to Sunbury.
Standing in the Eels’ way were the Sunshine Cowboys at Arthur Beachley Reserve.
The Eels would return home with an impressive 20-8 victory, with a fine contribution from several players on the field.
Centre Jayden Taylor ran in two tries, while five-eighth Konisitutone Latu and second-rower Veatauia Sua also scored to give the Eels the advantage.
The Eels also gave their defence an upgrade from last week, with some great tackling and organisation keeping the Cowboys to just two tries for the match.
The Eels will not rest their aching bodies – and thaw out – before returning home on the Saturday 18 June to face Melton Broncos at Comely Banks Reserve, Officer.
