WE'LL meet again on grand final day.
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That was the message from St Pat's White under 14s coach Tony England on Saturday after his side suffered a 28-6 Group 10 Junior Rugby League loss to Bloomfield in wet, muddy conditions at Jack Arrow Oval.
Handling errors and a lopsided penalty count meant the Saints simply did not have enough ball to showcase what they could do in attack against Bloomfield.
The Tigers dominated possession and had the field position to match as they extend their unbeaten run. Lock Bailey Peschka scored a hat-trick while second rower Sam Blackburn made big post-contact metres.
"We didn't have enough possession to get over the line today and that's where we fell short," England conceded.
"Bloomfield played a good game of football, they controlled the ball well and they deserve the win. They've got some really good players out there in the forwards and they're complimented by their halves.
"That's just another game in the competition, we've got a couple more rounds to go before the finals. I believe my boys will be there come finals time and I've got a feeling that may have been a preview for this year's grand final, that's my opinion."
Heavy overnight rain left Jack Arrow Oval sodden for the round five clash and as the Saints discovered when knocking on in the opening set, it also made handling difficult.
Strong online defence - in particular from Ward - helped make up for that early error, but the Saints struggled to get out of their half as more mistakes and penalties came.
On six minutes Peschka, who had drifted to the left edge, opened scoring for the Tigers to make it 4-0 at quarter-time.
In the second quarter both Blackburn and prop Beau Hartley were held up over the line as the Saints defended grimly, but Hugh Cody Siear crossed and Bailey Kennedy's conversion made it 10-0 at half-time.
While fullback Sam Clarke finally got the Saints on the board in the third quarter as he burrowed over in a four-man tackle, by then the Tigers led 20-6.
The Saints kept working hard, five-eighth Lachlan Randal and Clarke producing some text-book tackles around the legs of their bigger Bloomfield rivals, but the Tigers crossed twice in the final quarter to seal the win.
England praised the efforts of playmaker Jack Branda plus props Ward and Dayne Fallon as they got through plenty of work in defence and tried to inspire in attack when the Saints did have the ball.
