THE Nambucca Roosters First Grade side began their march to the finals on Sunday with a hard fought win over the Grafton Ghosts at Frank McGuren Field, Grafton, winning the game 24-10.
Nambucca sat out round one with a bye while Grafton went down to Sawtell in a close game and came into Round 2 hungry for a win.
During the early stages of the match both sides were strong in defence with possession going slightly in favour of the home side, who picked up great field position thanks to some early penalties in their favour.
However they were unable to turn this into points.
When the tide turned in favour of the Roosters some handling errors under pressure cost them the ball just when they seemed set to score tries.
It was 29 minutes of hard slog from both teams until the scoreboard finally lit up, Nambucca’s Jake Saunders crossing the line after some relentless attacking play finally cracked the Ghosts defence.
The try was converted by Tyronne Roberts-Davis, the score 6-0.
No more points were picked up by either side for the rest of the half.
While the first half was played in dry conditions, a heavy drizzle then descended over Grafton making playing conditions greasy for the rest of the afternoon.
Five minutes into the second half a blistering 40-metre line break by Tyreece Sines took the Roosters into striking distance for Jacob Welsh to get the ball over the line.
The try was converted again by Roberts-Davis, the Roosters now leading 12-0.
Five minutes later Nambucca’s Logan Jones broke through defenders on a 35-metre sprint to add points to the tally.
More fine kicking by Roberts-Davis took the score to 18-0.
Midway through the half Roberts-Davis was sent to the bin for a dangerous tackle, giving additional impetus to the home side.
Soon Grafton’s Jake Vickery got their first points on the board, not converted, the score at 18-4.
The Ghosts continued to threaten the line, keeping the Roosters under pressure and another converted try, this time from Jake Martin, reduced the gap and brought the score to 18-10.
Momentum did shift Grafton’s way however spite began to creep into the game, costing the home side penalties that worked in the visitors’ favour for good field position.
Nambucca’s Zac Johnson burst through the Grafton defensive line for a try, which was converted by Sines, extending the lead to 24-10 and taking the wind out of Grafton’s sails until full time.
Nambucca’s minor grades did not fare so well.
The U/18’s went down 28-24 despite a healthy halftime lead.
Such is the quality of the young Roosters squad, the defeat did not rattle them and they remain focused on the long game of performing well in this year’s finals series.
The women’s tackle team accounted for themselves well, however with a number of their players unavailable on the day they were not able to get the better of the home side and went down 16-0.
In the Reserve Grade clash the home side took the prize, defeating the Roosters 34-18.
The “Reggies” were facing a drubbing by half time, however once they took in the wise words of the coaching staff during the break, launched an entertaining and effective comeback in the second half.
This week the Roosters are at home, hosting the Sawtell Panthers with the action beginning at 11:00am when the U/18s take to the field.
By Mick BIRTLES
