The Cobar Roosters secured a win in First Grade on Saturday at Coonamble which was their first since entering the Christie and Hood Castlereagh League competition this year.
The Roosterettes however scored their first loss in more than two years and the Cobar Under 18s also went down to their hosts Coonamble in their Castlereagh League Round 3 matches on Saturday.
The Roosters First Graders proved too strong for the Coonamble Bears converting their six points lead at half time into a sizeable 44-18 victory at full time.
The game was also another out of character loss for Coonamble who have now been defeated in two home games in succession after going down to Gilgandra in the opening round of the 2018 competition.
With Roosters’ star fullback Tim Hillam chiming in for two of the Roosters’ eight tries, the visitors finished over the top of the Bears after holding down a 24-18 lead at the break.
Also touching down for tries for the Roosters were Tristan Everett, Chris Deighton, Kody Martin, James Neyland, Sam Baker and Robert Childs. Captain/coach David Watson kicked four conversions and Childs added another two goals to their total.
The Roosters were also well served by Ben Simon, who made plenty of metres in attack while Jed Noonan and Tim Woods proved to be invaluable in defence.
Without their Western Rams representative and team captain Zoë Harland, the Cobar Ladies League Tag outfit still certainly made Coonamble work for their 22-18 victory in what was a close and entertaining game.
After being up 12-8 at the break, the Roosterettes let the Coonamble girls back into the match in the second half and, with just minutes before full time, the game was tied at 18-all. The hosts scored a contentious late try to finish with an exciting 22-18 win.
Tyler Chiswick scored twice for the Roosterettes and Lisa Travis also crossed for a try.
Rookie Peta Woods, collected the Players’ Player award after taking over the kicking duties from Harland for Saturday’s game.
Woods never faulted kicking three conversions from her three attempts.
Nikki Davey also played well out of position in the fullback role.
Roosterettes’ coach Bianka Jacobson said while it had been the side’s first loss in over two seasons, there were however a lot of positives her side could take out of the game.
“We had a number of players playing different positions that performed outstandingly and showcased their versatility and it also highlighted aspects of the game that we need work on,” Jacobson said.
The Cobar Juniors were well served in attack by Hamish McLeod and Brad Davies and when Marty Turton crossed before half time, the young Roosters were still in the match with the score at 4-14 at half time.
Despite strong defence from Cobar juniors Turton, Michael Manns and Ash Davies, Coonamble finished strongly to win the match 28-4.
The Cobar club will now look forward to hosting their first Castlereagh League fixture at Tom Knight Memorial Oval when they will take on the Trangie Magpies this Saturday in what will be a good test for both outfits.
