While the scoreboard may indicate a dominant victory to Walcha, Saturday's clash between the Rams and St Albert's College was definitely a tale of two halves.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Walcha fired out of the starting gate in the opening 40 minutes, posting five tries to the students' one to lead 35-7 at the break.
Read also:
But the second-half saw a different story unfold - the final score was 40-14.
Both sides battled to get on top of the other in the second half, and scoring opportunities were few and far between.
It was Albies who posted the first five-pointer before Walcha replied late in the match to share one try each in the final 40.
Rams coach Hyde Thomson was again critical of his side's ability to give away possession and penalties.
"Let's hope they [the Rams] realise one day how good they could be if they could hang on to the ball," he said.
"The amount of times we turned it over with zero phases or one phase was the silly part - not hanging on to the ball.
"Again, the penalty count was through the roof."
He did credit the students for sticking it to his side after a yellow card late in the first half interrupted the Rams' momentum.
"Albies stepped it up a fair bit and we weren't able to get that go-forward that we really got in the first half," Thomson said.
"It all comes back to that one penalty
"We were right on top, looking really dominant and really just never got back onto it from there."
Thomson was, however, happy with the Rams' "intensity and toughness".
"We kept showing up and putting it up and putting it down," he said.
"We were able to regroup and get our structure a bit when things fell away.
"We just have to work on bringing it in tighter and, particularly, you have got to adjust to your conditions."