Eagles flying highRUGBY UNION

Warren Thomson

Eagles’ Reggie Smith, coach Steve Ariston and Ben Nash celebrate winning the Bowl at the NT Country Carnival in Katherine Picture: CHLOE GERAGHTY

‘It was like playing in hell, in

the 38, 39 degree weather

against the Top End sides that

are used to that weather and

have played their season, but

the boys sweated it out and it

was a great start to our

season

’ Steven Ariston

Eagles coach

ALICE Springs rugby had success atthe NT Country Carnival in Kather-ine on the weekend after Eagles tookhome the Bowl trophy.

Eagles may have won the middle-tier competition final by forfeit, butthey played superbly throughout thetournament to earn their success.

Due to Eagles going up to play in thetournament, it was agreed that nextyear’s NT Country Carnival will beplayed in Alice Springs next year.

Eagles co-coach Steve Ariston waspleased with his team’s first games

ahead of the upcoming Central Aust-ralian Rugby Union (CARU) season.

‘‘It was like playing in hell, in the 38,39 degree weather against the TopEnd sides that are used to thatweather and have played their season,but the boys sweated it out and it wasa great start to our season.

‘‘Wayne Davis, Kenny Braun, TroyLoveridge,David Clarke, DarrenTrindall and Reggie Smith, whoplayed his first games of rugby, madethe NT Country squad and we thoughtDustin Briscoe and Kallum Peckhamwere lucky to not get into the squad.

‘‘Troy Loveridge was our player’splayer and Ben Nash was given thecoach’s award.’’

They defeated Palmerston Crocs,who eventually forfeited to them inthe Bowl final, 26-5, and the Bar-barians, but they narrowly lost to Cup-winners Swampdogs.

‘‘Most teams lost to Swampdogs 35-5or 40-10 but we lost to them only twotries to one,’’ Ariston said.

‘‘Crocs had to play Pirates before thefinal and they got belted up and had toforfeit our game to due to not havingenough players.

‘‘A lot of their players got injured,and Pirates’ Paul Jennings, who wasMVP (most valuable player) for thetournament, knocked out two of theirplayers.’’

Galvin blitz for first beltBOXING

Warren Thomson

David Galvin with his first career beltPicture: COREY SINCLAIR

DAVID Galvin has de-livered his first knockoutin his professional career,earning him his first ca-reer belt in Adelaide onFriday night.

Galvin entered the ringwith an indigenous-themeintroduction, inspiringhim to a fourth roundknockout win against MickHermann, which earnedhim the South AustralianLight Middleweight titlebelt.

‘‘I’m over the moon andit was good to have myfamily there to see me winmy first belt,’’ Galvin said.

‘‘It was a dream cometrue for me. For the

walkout, instead of theusual music, my cousinscame out with didgeridoosand were painted up andwearing lap-laps and theydanced around during mywalkout and continued todance in the ring.

‘‘I want it to happen forall my fights - it reallyrevved me up for the fight.

‘‘My opponent probablywon the first round but thesecond belonged to me as Igot him with some niceuppercuts, and in the thirdround I made some goodbody shots.

‘‘In the fourth round Iput him on the ropes andput together some goodcombination hooks and, asI bounced out, my coachyelled to get back on him,so I went to get back on

him and landed a jab onhis chin, which knockedhim out.’’

Galvin now gets the op-portunity to fight for theworld number 25 rankwhen he takes on MichaelZerafa for the WBC(World Boxing Council)Asia Council ContinentalLight Middleweight Title.

‘‘It’s a big fight and itshould be a really goodbattle,’’ he said.

‘‘It will go for 10 rounds.Friday night’s fight wassupposed to go for eightrounds but I’m confidentthat I’ll be able to box outthe 10 rounds as I’m thefittest I’ve ever been.

‘‘I had three good weeksof sparring in Adelaide be-fore Friday night’s fightand I hope to do some

sparring down south be-fore the next fight.’’

Galvin thanks his sup-porters and hopes moresponsors can get on boardto support him in his ca-reer.

People interested insponsoring Galvin can callhim on 0437 138 224.

‘‘I have great sponsors inthe Todd Tavern andOstojic, and Sportspowerhave provided me withgear, but I would appreci-ate more help, and any-thing helps,’’ he said.

‘‘I thank my partner andmy three kids for theirsupport, my trainer andmanager Aaron Smith aswell as all the locals whosupport me.’’

Pointson offerMOTORCYCLING

Warren Thomson

A L I C E S p r i n g sMotorcycle Club hasreached the penulti-mate round of then a t u r a l t e r r a i nseries, which will bebattled out at theclub’s base on Sun-day.

Valuable pointswill be up for grabsahead of the finalround of the series,which will be on Oct-ober 28.

Lachlan Summersa n d P a u l ‘ P J ’Sabadin will be onesto watch on Sunday,with both battling itout for top spot in thePro-Open and Pro-Lite classes, but itwon’t be easy forthem.

Jared Ewin haswon a couple ofrounds in the Pro-Open class and has astrong chance of tak-ing out the round,and last round win-ner Jack Dooley-McDonnell could bea contender if he de-cides to race, whileBrad Dunn andMichael Nelson areclose to them in over-all points in the Pro-Lite class.

S t e p h e nGreenfield has had astrong series in theMasters, but he willbe challenged by thelikes of AnthonyBlakely and DougSims, who are tryingto chase down hisseries lead.

Allan Hildebrandtwill be looking tohold on to his narrowlead over Aaron Hillin the Clubman class.

Patrick Geraghtyhas had a superbseries in the Quads,and will be taking onB r a d G e r a g h t y ,Willie Orr and LanceHill to hang on to hislead.

The junior classeshave some incrediblytight fields andshape up to haves o m e f a n t a s t i cbattles on Sunday.

Jerakye Andrews,Matthew Manueland Jett Seymourare in a three-waybattle for top spot inthe 125CC class.Andrews is also in agreat position in the85CC, but will bechallenged by Nich-olas Turner, EdwardGibson and MatthewSmart.

Andrew’s youngerbrother Talen alsohas a big battle on hishands, taking onBradley Greenfieldand Thomas Gibsonin the 65CC class.

A l i c e S p r i n g sMotorcycle Clubpublicity officerJayne Sabadin en-courages everyone tocome out to watch agreat day of racing.

‘‘It should be a goodday of racing, andcanteen facilities willbe available,’’ shesaid.

Scrutineering andsign-on begins at7.30am, riders will geta practice lap at8.30am and racing isset to begin ataround 8.45am.

Centralian Advocate, Friday, September 28, 2012 — 51

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