Wallaby Phil Waugh who was a special guest at the club on Friday night.
Failure to convert an in-front penalty goal cost the Cobar Camels what would have been a well-deserved and crowd pleasing draw with their Western Plain Rugby Union archrivals Nyngan in last Friday’s highly entertaining and traditional ‘under-lights’ clash.
Refereed by Chris Marshall at Ailsa Fitzsimmons Memorial Oval, the match between last year’s premiers (Nyngan) and last year’s wooden spooners (Cobar) was played in very cold conditions before an awesome turnout of well rugged-up supporters including former Wallaby guest Phil Waugh.
The low-scoring match featured relentless attack and defence from both teams before the visiting Bogan Bulls sealed a hard fought 10-7 win.
After match highlights of the evening included Phil Waugh’s praise of bush rugby, the donation of a Wallaby Guernsey to Cobar’s Best & Fairest Justin Schick and the charity raising of $800 for the House with No Steps’ Drought Appeal. Lively entertainment following the robust rugby was provided by local musician Sam McBride.
Vigorous attack by Nyngan during the opening period resulted in an early try to hard-running second rower Harry Homes with five-eighth Justin Hodges adding the extras to give the Bulls a crucial 7-nil lead.
Led by captain Jamie Peters, the Camels counter-attacked from the restart with forwards Sam Baker, Ryan Hammond, Justin Schick, Steve Gillette, Bryce Rixon, Blake Dunne and Carl Richie setting a solid platform at the scrum and breakdowns.
Cobar went close to scoring from a corner line-out when the ball was spread wide and five-eighth Tom Walls and centre Brad Harris were held-up only metres from the uprights.
Both teams continued to apply sustained pressure with Peters finally scoring for Cobar and goal kicker Walls converting to deadlock the match at 7-all moments before halftime.
Neither team scored during a relentless attack and at times spiteful second half until five-eighth Hodges added a 30 metre match winning penalty goal for the Bogan Bulls.
Cobar’s chance to equalise came from an attacking penalty in the 75th minute but to the disappointment of the Camels’ numerous and ardent fans, the kick missed the uprights.
The final score was Nyngan Bogan Bulls 10 to Cobar Camels 7.
Best and Fairest points for the Camels were awarded to Justin Schick (3 points), Sam Baker (2) and Brad Harris (1).
Jedd Watson was named the Camels’ Player’s Player.—The Magpie
