The Cobar Roosters Under 18s side ran riot in their opening game of the 2024 Castlereagh Rugby League competition against Narromine on Saturday to record an impressive 44-16 win.
The McMullen brothers appeared to be in a big hurry as they raced in the Roosters’ first two tries in quick succession.
Tadgh McMullen opened their account with his try in the first set, which Oisin McMullen then converted.
Immediately after Oisin crossed for their second try.
Jamal Eves pushed his way over for Cobar’s next points and a flying Jaxon Burke then crashed over to score Cobar’s next try.
Tadgh McMullen’s successful conversion of Burke’s try took the score to 20-0.
Playing around the middle of the ruck, Oisin, Tadgh and Kai Taylor combined for some dynamic play which then resulted in Taylor scoring the next two tries back-to-back in quick succession.
Tadgh converted both and the score was now 32-0.
As the clock was running down to the half time break and Cobar was defending, Burke stripped the ball from a Narromine player and ran 70 metres untouched to score.
That stretched Cobar’s lead out to 36-0 as the whistle blew for the halftime break.
Narromine came out fighting in the second half and scored twice to bring the margin back to 36-10. It was only short-lived as Cobar went on the attack.
A kick in play from Taylor put pressure on the Jets and forced an error.
Cobar regained possession and were attacking their line when Tommy Bryan found a gap out wide to score.
That took Cobar’s lead to 40-10 midway through the second half.
The young Roosters showed plenty of pace and a series of well-timed passes saw the ball go out to Aiden Swan on the wing who skillfully stepped inside his opposition to score.
Narromine ran in a late consolation try to close the final margin to 44-16.
Coach Paul Sullivan was thrilled with the young team’s efforts on Saturday.
“They got out to a good start and then they defended it.
“They played really well, kept it really simple, held the ball and didn’t give the ball away which was really good considering they are unfit,” Sullivan said in a post game interview.
“In the second half, fitness fell away a little bit, and they let in a couple of tries but, other than that, it was really good.”
He said the team will benefit further by showing up to training (and by recruiting one or two more players).
Prior to their home game on Saturday, Under 18s manager Claud Parisi arranged for Nik Kosef, former Australian Player (and former Cobar Roosters Under 18s captain who was back in town), to meet and talk to the team on Friday night. Kosef also joined the team for a bike ride to Fort Bourke Hill for a pre-match warm up on Saturday morning.
The young Roosters were the first home side to play on the reinvigorated playing surface at Tom Knight Memorial Oval on Saturday, which has been described by some as “the best it’s ever looked”.
The grounds are under the care of Sullivan who, in addition to coaching the juniors, joined the committee last season as the groundskeeper.
Sullivan said the field had been over-sowed with rye grass.
He said while it did look pretty good on Saturday, the field won’t actually “hit its straps” for another 2-3 weeks and will stay green over winter.
