The Cobar Roosters First Graders earned themselves a Castlereagh Rugby League home semi final this week after they easily accounted for the Gilgandra Panthers 44-11 in the last match of the round at Tom Knight Memorial Oval on Saturday.
Defence was key for both teams early in the match and the Panthers did well to hold off the Cobar attack—for the first eight minutes—but from there the scoring flood gates opened.
Tristan Everett crossed to put first points on the board for the Roosters and co-captain/coach Thomas Plater’s conversion gave the Roosters an early 6-0 lead.
Just three minutes later the pair repeated the feat when Everett ran in his second try.
Along with landing six conversions for the match Plater also served up numerous well-placed kicks in play that constantly had the Gilgandra defence scrambling.
Shortly after a disallowed try Tim Hillam raced in to score the first of his two tries of the match.
Just before halftime, Nathan McAndrew broke away and sprinted towards the try line and a pass off to Ryan Urquhart in support, saw him score. By half time, the Roosters had a comfortable 20-0 lead.
The Panthers came back from the break with a new plan to limit the Roosters’ scoring and get some points on the board.
They managed to score an early converted try to rein back the margin to 20-6. However the Roosters fired up again and Jed Noonan ploughed his way over the line to score under the posts making an easy conversion for Plater.
A couple of try scoring opportunities then went begging as the Roosters threw caution to the wind and played some “off the cuff” footy before they returned to their structured play.
Sione Fakahua muscled over for the Roosters’ next points with a pushover try. Fakahua fooled his defenders by faking left and then swiveling right to crash over the line and score.
Plater’s sensational sideline conversion gave the Roosters a 32-6 lead midway through the second half.
A busting run by Noonan somewhat softened the Gilgandra defence and then in the same set, Hillam made his second try look easy as he dragged a bunch of defenders over the line and scored next to the posts.
Plater’s conversion took the score to 38-6.
Shortly after Hillam made a break away run and was on his way to the line again.
Taking advantage of the younger legs of Tadgh McMullen in support, Hillam passed off and McMullen strolled over untouched under the posts to score Cobar’s 8th try of the match.
After another simple conversion for Plater, Cobar went out to a 44-6 lead.
With six minutes left on the clock, perseverance finally paid off in a try for Gilgandra.
They crossed near the posts and the conversion closed the scoreline to 44-10.
Tempers flared two minutes before full time and two Cobar players finished the game in the sin-bin.
Despite being two players down, the Roosters kept the Panthers out until the final siren when they kicked a field goal to take the final score to 44-11.
Cobar takes on third placed Narromine this Saturday at Tom Knight Memorial Oval.
The Roosters beat Narromine in Round 1 at home 58-14, but lost to the Jets 28-18 in their last encounter in Round 10 at Narromine.
The winner of this Saturday’s semi final will advance to the major semi against Coolah next week. The winner of that match will head straight to the grand final.
