Cobar Camels come up against the Pumas “black wall”

Travis Schintler trying to fend off the Warren Pumas defenders in Saturday’s Western Plains Rugby Union match at Ailsa Fitzsimmons Memorial Oval. The visitors dominated the game to finish with a comprehensive 52-5 win.

The Cobar Camels ran into a near impen-etrable “black wall” when they hosted the Warren Pumas for Round 13 of the West-ern Plains Rugby Union competition on Saturday.
There was a good crowd in attendance who enjoyed great weather at Ailsa Fitzsimmons Memorial Oval for the Camels’ annual Ladies Day.
Unfortunately neither the Cobar men’s or ladies’ sides could give their supporters much to cheer about with the Camels beaten 52-5 while the Bactrians lost their ladies game 8-2.
Neither Cobar side however gave in and continued to fight until the end of each game.
After being down 40-0 at half time and hav-ing no answers to the Pumas six first half tries, the Camels First Graders made a much better showing in the second half, including putting points on the board through a try scored by Will Allen.
Tyler Coughlan put the wheels in motion for the Camels one and only try midway through the second half with a great attacking run from half way.
Coughlan streaked away down field but was eventually pulled down by a very determined Puma defender just metres from the try line.
With Allen following in support, he was on hand when Coughlan released the ball and Allen ducked over to score.
Kody Martin’s opportunity to better the Camels score with a difficult sideline conver-sion, just missed the mark.
The Camels’ ‘never say die’ attitude contin-ued in defence and they limited the Pumas to just three tries in the second half.
Cobar’s halfback Jay Ellison once again had a standout game controlling his side’s attack-ing play from the back of the ruck.
Ellison collected the Camels’ Best & Fairest three points.
Two points went to Troy Hill, who worked hard in defence all game (and the Camels side had to do plenty of defending with the Pumas having a glut of possession throughout the match).
One point each went to Brandon ‘Chucky’ Jones (who worried the Warren defenders on a couple of occasions) and Lachlan Mitchell (who dominated the line-outs to secure pos-session numerous times for the Camels).
The Bactrians’ Best & Fairest three points went to Aisha Schofield who swapped out her Roosterettes jersey for a green and gold one: two points were earned by Katelyn Martin and one point was collected by Bethany Smith.