Sydney Uni adds to Canberra's woes

Canberra’s troubles continued last weekend with yet another loss, this time to arch rivals and last year’s champions Sydney University, going down 21:27 in Sydney on Saturday.

Canberra went off to the usual slow start, falling back 1-3 in the first five minutes, but at that point the Canberra players did something they have failed to do all season. In a period of 15 minutes, the team hit back at Sydney Uni with an 8:1 goal-spree, taking a 9:4 lead at the 20 minute mark.

Playing full strength for the first time, with both Milan Slavujevic and Rob Lans back in the team, it seemed that this was going to be Canberra’s comeback game.

Sydney Uni though had other ideas, as key player Christoph Niebel took charge, leading his team to their own 8:1 scoring spree to take a 12:10 lead with only five minutes to break.

Canberra had many chances to win the game but missed key opportunities in fast-break situations and from the penalty spot. The players took turns to miss as many as 6 penalties and 4 clear scoring chances, as Uni's star keeper Pascal Winkler saved shot after shot, demoralising the Canberra attack.

Canberra now has a two-week break to find a solution to their poor showing this year.