In what can only be described as 'devine intervention by the rugby gods,' a late change of venue saw Easts' season opening fixture against Uni-Norths (Green) moved to the spiritual homeland, Griffith Oval, on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

Being one of five Easts seniors debutants for the day, Cian Jones sought to do the 7 jersey justice. Crucial involvements all over the park as well as lineout nous saw the colt a form crucial part of Easts' performance from the early stages.

The first score of the game was made after a retreating, disconnected defensive line was exploited by Easts' fleet-footed, first-time-flyhalf, Liam Doherty. This was the first major involvement in a huge day for the vice-captain, who ended the game with a stat sheet more numerically dense than a "Reciprocal Tariffs Chart".

With an ego too precious to handle a vice-captain occupying the spotlight, Easts' captain, Nick Giugni overcompensatingly went about scoring three consecutive tries. Opportunities granted respectively by a dominant scrum-platform for an 8-pick, a lucky bounce off a grubber and his teammates doing the hard work to get the ball on a platter less than one metre from the line. Having missed all four conversions however, stand-in coach Tom Pilkinton saw fit to pull the skipper shortly after half-time to correct his head-space.

The second half saw Easts score first through a vintage, bludgeoning line-dropout return by their "off the back fence" specialist, Jake Visser. A tough contest for the remainder of the match saw the Owls cross for two tries.

At final whistle, Easts 27, Uni 12.

The men will now enjoy a few weeks off, while the Easts women prepare for their season opener next Saturday in Batemans Bay!