After a very promising start in Round 2 of the Western Plains Rugby Union competi-tion at Ailsa Fitzsimmons Memorial Oval on Saturday, the Camels were eventually beat-en 38-25 by the Coonamble Rams.
In a post match interview, Camels coach, Robert ‘Bot’ Neale said it was inconsistent play over the 80 minutes that eventually cost Cobar the win.
The Camels displayed flashes of brilliance throughout the game including scoring first points in the opening minutes of the game.
Camels’ Best & Fairest, Will Allen, flying down the wing, touched down for first points which very much put the wind up the Coonam-ble visitors. It wasn’t until 10 minutes later that they levelled the scores.
Cobar’s second try was “textbook rugby” as their forwards picked and drove to the try line before the ball was passed out and Kody Mar-tin crossed to score near the posts.
There was more brilliance in the second half when Allen was once again involved in a sen-sational try which passed through multiple hands of the Camels’ backline before Lochlan Ford ran the ball wide to score in the corner.
Camels captain Tony Jacklin’s push over try late in the match was also well executed and kept the Camels in the game with the score then 26-25 in the Rams’ favour.
Two late tries by the Rams however sealed their 13 point win.
“I thought that one wouldn’t of got away from us, we were right in there until about 10 minutes ago,” Neale lamented.
“The boys are very capable of so much more.
“It’s a huge improvement on last season.”
Neale said while his players put a lot of what they had been doing in training into practice on the field for Saturday’s game, they however didn’t “treasure possession”.
“We’ve got to treasure possession because the whole thing about the game is, if you have-n’t got it, you’re not going to win,” Neale said.
He said constant dropped balls and turn overs were quickly picked up by the Rams and were, on numerous occasions, turned into points on the board.
Neale said the Camels repeatedly lost mo-mentum in their phases when they were slow to play the ball. Too often their halfback Jay Ellison had to wait for his backs to get set be-fore he could initiate play from the ruck.
By then the Rams had time to re-set their defensive line and the Camels had lost any advantage they’d gained.
Allen earned the team’s Best & Fairest three points with two points going to Ellison, and one point each was awarded to Jacklin (playing in the second row) and their hard working breakaway, Hamish McLeod.
In the ladies game that preceded the First Grade match, the visiting Rams side also claimed a win, beating the Bactrians 5-2.
The Camels host Gulargambone this Satur-day for two games.
