There was no love lost between the Cobar and Baradine First Grade teams in their Castlereagh Rugby League Round 7 clash at Tom Knight Memorial Oval on Saturday.
With Cobar sitting in third place on the competition ladder going into the match and Baradine back in 6th spot, the Roosters were quietly confident of a good showing in front of their home crowd.
And that’s eventually what they did with the Roosters outscoring the visitors eight tries to four to finish with a 44-20 win.
The game was however a tough, feisty battle for both sides with two incidents marring the second half as three players were sent off by referee Peter Evans.
For the first 12 minutes the score was locked at nil-all until the deadlock was broken by Magpies’ fullback Lloyd Kennedy who crossed to post the game’s first points.
The Roosters hit back shortly after and a great run by Chris Deighton put the home side within striking range of the Magpies’ line.
Quick play spread the ball wide for Tristan Everett to score.
Robert Childs’ long range conversion found its mark to put the Roosters ahead 6-4.
Man of the Match, Roosters’ halfback Jimmy Neyland, who had a hand in no less than four of his team’s eight tries, then sent a well-timed pass to his fullback Tim Hillam who crossed to score.
Childs’ second successful conversion had the Roosters ahead 12-4.
The Roosters’ next try came from a pass from Neyland to Ben Simon who evaded two Baradine defenders to score untouched under the posts.
Childs was again on target with his conversion attempt and the Roosters led 18-4.
Shortly after the Cobar side was again looking dangerous in attack and big prop Troy Knight scored out wide to put Cobar ahead
22-4 going into the half time break.
Early in the second half, tempers flared and an altercation broke out with punches thrown.
Referee Evans had no other option than to send off a player from each side leaving the Roosters and Magpies with just 12 players each.
For much of the second half Evans had to continuously blow his whistle when both sides were repeatedly guilty of tackling infringements, errors and dropped balls as the Roosters and Magpies tried to make the most of the extra space created with two men off the field.
The Magpies’ persistence on the line eventually paid off with Joel Davis crossing for a try which was converted by Travis Houghton to narrow the margin to 22-10.
The Roosters capitalised on a penalty close to the try line with Hillam putting Jesse Hamilton through a gap to score.
Childs added two more points landing a difficult conversion with the Roosters now 28-10 ahead midway through the second half.
Hillam pulled off a try-saving tackle, however it only delayed the inevitable with Ben Baker crossing shortly after for the Magpies and Houghton’s conversion brought the score to 28-16.
The Magpies crossed again shortly after with a try to Wyatte Andrews.
Mid way through the second half Cobar lost another player who was sent off for swearing at a touch judge and, despite only being left with 11 players, they finished strongly with Hillam crossing for his second try, Neyland put up a high kick which was reined in by Childs who passed off to Luke Grey to score under the posts.
That man Neyland couldn’t be contained and, in the dying seconds of the match, he made a break before passing off to Childs who was with him in support.
Childs scored the final try and also converted it to give Cobar a 42-20 win.
