Sydney Uni shutout the Pirates on Saturday night at the St George Hockey Centre to win its Round 6 game 14-0 and take its record out to 5-0. 

The Lions pass rush was in rare form, sending the statisticians running for the record books.  The Gold Rush took down the Pirates' quarterback for 8 sacks, with Joe Lim involved in 4, Greg Wernecke in 4, Fady Aoun in 4, Chady Aoun in 2 and Jay Bottom in 1.  While the record books are being hastily reviewed, it seems that both the team total and the individual performances by Lim, Wernecke and Fady Aoun were all-time records. 

And it wasn't just the Pirates quarterback who was feeling the heat.  The Lions made a further 10 tackles for loss of Pirate running backs to hold the Pirates to a total of only 10 yards on the ground.

With all that pressure, it was hardly surprising that the Pirates found it hard to move the ball and were ultimately shutout.  But it was not only the Pirates who had trouble moving the ball.  The Lions also faced a defence which matched up well against the run and forced key turnovers to defuse threatening drives. 

The game started with the Lions exerting the early pressure.  The Pirates started on their 29 yard line but ended up punting from their 22 after the Lions recorded backfield tackles on each play of the three and out drive.  A couple of completions to Mathew Freeman got the Lions down close, but then Kelen threw behind Freeman on a slant play to be picked off at the goal line.

The Lions' second sack of the day forced the Pirates three and out again and, on the ensuing punt, the relentless Lions pressure caused the Pirate upback to cross in front of the punter resulting in a blocked punt and the Lions' ball on the 26 yard line.  Two plays later and Kelen had tight end James Gifford open behind the coverage for a 16 yard touchdown and the opening score.  Erby added the extra point for a 7-0 lead.

The Pirates were immediately on the attackafter a personal foul penalty on the kick-off spotted the ball on the Lions 30 yard line.  On 2nd and 10 from the 16, Pirates quarterback David Ward tried to catch out Lions cornerback David Bourke on a hook and go pattern, but Bourke kept good coverage to get a hand on the ball and deflect it to safety Leigh Louey-Gung for an interception.  

The rest of the half descended into a spirited defensive struggle, with neither team able to mount any further scoring drives.  The Lions were getting caned in the penalty count on offence, particularly holding penalties on first down.  The Lions gave up 60 yards to holding penalties on first down, putting their offence immediately on the back foot. 

After a couple of changes of possession, James Gifford turned a regulation out pattern into a big play, knocking over three would-be tacklers on a 39 yard run down the sideline.  But a few plays later he undid his good work, being stripped of the ball on a pass play at the 20 yard line. 

When Kelen threw his second interception - and the Lions' third turnover - on the next series, the Pirates had their best chance to level the score.  The Pirates defensive back returned the ball to the Lions' 23 yard line and two short completions gave the Pirates 1st and 10 from the 13 yard line.  Two plays later and the Pirates had 3rd and 1 on the 4 yard line and a chance to hit back before half-time.  But Greg Wernecke blitzed in from outside linebacker to take down the Pirates running back for a 2 yard loss on the play to bring up 4th and 3 from the 6.  Again the Pirates went with a running play and, again, the Lions took it for a loss; this time Fady Aoun, Nick Baldwin and Joe Lim combining to preserve the Lions' half time lead.  

The Lions started in positive fashion after the break with Tristan Cauhepe darting for a 33 yard kickoff return to the Pirates' 37 yard line.  The Lions drove into the red zone on their first possession - a completion to Freeman bringing up 1st and Goal from the 8 yard line - but then stalled on the goal line.  Kelen was sacked on first down and the fourth down run from Croasdaile was stopped well short of the endzone. 

On the next drive, the Pirates hit their biggest play of the night - a 42 yard pass to the Lions 20 yard line - but two plays later it was all over: Nick Baldwin stripping the ball for Chady Aoun to recover the fumble. 

After an exchange of possession, the Lions defence took matters into their own hands.  The Pirates started the drive on their own 23.  A Fady Aoun solo sack dropped David Ward at the 17 yard line on first down.  On the next play, Wernecke and Louey-Gung combined to take the running back for a 1 yard loss.  Then on 3rd down, Fady Aoun sacked Ward again to bring up 4th down and plenty on the 10 yard line.  Finally, safety Kiernan Dorney was too fast for the edge of the punt protection team, slicing in to block the punt for Louey-Gung to recover the ball in the end zone for a touchdown.  The defence had rolled the Pirates offence back 23 yards and taken the ball away for a touchdown on the drive.  With the extra point added, the Lions were out to14-0.

And that was enough for the win.  The offence continued to be plagued by holding penalties on first down and was unable to convert long passing situations into first downs.  The defence continued to play strongly and the Pirates only got into the Lions' half on one drive for the rest of the game.  The defence finished on a high, with Fady Aoun recording his third solo sack of the game on their last play.  In all, the Lions defence held the Pirates to only 52 net yards on 55 plays.  One measure of their success was that, although David Ward completed 11 passes, only 2 of them were over 10 yards and 2 of them were for losses. 

Obviously credit must go to the players, but also to defensive co-ordinator, Ryan Wonser, and his team of assistant coaches: Joe Lim, Leigh Louey-Gung and Jim Bray.    Any time there is a record performance, it is always a team performance at heart. 

And that goes for the whole game.  While the defence was pleased to have done well, the more important thing was that it had been part of a winning team.  By grinding out a tough win, the 2008 Lions showed that they are willing to do whatever it takes to get the result.