Saturday saw the first home games of the season for the Busselton Beetles junior rugby teams.
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Sides from Margaret River, Bunbury and Australind travelled to Barnard Park to compete across four age groups in eight keenly contested matches, with the Beetles facing the Bunbury Bulls.
The U7s displayed some spectacular rugby against the Bulls, who had some fast players. Eva, Sadie, Otis, Ted, Tate, Olivia, Declan, Darcy, Mia and Jayren came out strong and didn't let up, running and chasing down tackles until the final whistle. Most important of all they had a fantastic game with smiles all around.
This is the first season the U8s have played full contact rugby and they wasted no time demonstrating their newly learnt tackling skills with a sackful of thumping tackles coming from Beetles players Bailey Watson-Richards and Finley Ollerenshaw.
The, all too common, sight of Riley Di Stefano cutting swathes through the opposition defence kept the scoreboard ticking over.
The Bulls were no pushovers however, as they repeatedly rumbled their way back up the pitch, recycling the ball well at the breakdowns, to run in a few well fought tries. All in all, a great battle which was a credit to both sides.
The U10s match was a game of two halves. The forwards came out firing with some solid rucking that provided a solid base for the backs to bring some razzle dazzle. The lads ran out of fuel in the second spell and could only watch as the Bulls put on a beautiful display of running rugby.
Dudley Davis put his body on the line and set the tone for the team, a savage performance.
Emerson Tucker showed the crowd why he was wearing the captain's armband with a performance for the ages.
Miles Johnson has been attacking the line superbly this season but he deserves special mention for a record amount of tackles.
They call it 'The game they play in heaven', well heaven surely was found at Barnard Park on Saturday...
The U12s got the wake up call they needed with the Bulls scoring a try in the opening minute of the game by one of their many strong forwards.
From there ensued a titanic battle where the lead changed several times.
Both the forward packs rolled up their sleeves and got busy as they competed for dominance. At times denying the backs the ball they desperately wanted.
Ultimately the strong free running loose forwards from both teams ran rampant scoring 7 of the 12 tries.
Busselton ending up triumphant whilst defending their line in the last minutes of the game 34 - 31. A much welcomed return to form by one of Busselton's superstars Henry Duff earning player of the match.
The club would like to extend their thanks to the volunteer referees who were crucial to what was a great fixture.
If you are between ages 5-12 and keen to give rugby a go, come down to training on a Thursday night at Barnard Park in Busselton from 4.30pm, or contact the club via www.facebook.com/JuniorBeetlesRugby
