It was a tough day out for the Cobar Roosters Club on Sunday at Tom Knight Memorial Oval with the committee scrambling to host the Dubbo Westside teams for their scheduled Tooheys Group 11 matches with depleted canteen and bar supplies after the club had been broken into earlier in the week.
Things didn’t get any better on the field with the visitors throwing another spanner in the works when their four teams all went home with wins.
The Reserve Grade match was definitely the game of the day with Westside narrowly winning a thriller of a game, 24-20.
There was plenty of action in the Ladies League Tag game with the competition front runners Westside giving the Cobar team a lesson in how to play in their 54-0 win.
The Cobar First Graders, without a full team and having to rely on several Reserve Grade players to field a side, were no match for the Bunnies who won 66-12.
Although beaten, the Roosters Under 18s finished with one of their best results of the season, only going down 12-30 to the visitors.
First Grade: The Cobar team started on the back foot missing a number of key players including coach Nathan Graham who will probably be out for the remainder of the season after his serious knee injury in last week’s match against Narromine.
With their run-on side consisting of five players who had just filled in for Reserve Grade and four subs on the bench who were all Reserve Graders, it was always going to be a tough ask up against Westside who were keen for a win and had travelled with a large red and green army of players and supporters.
Mistakes in the opening minutes by the Roosters quickly saw Westside advance down the field with penalties and it wasn’t long before they crossed to open their account.
They kept adding to their tally, with the Cobar side no match for the Westside pace out wide and it wasn’t long before the visitors had a 32-0 lead.
It was almost half time before the Roosters broke the line. It came after a well placed kick across field from Wade Potter which was gathered in by Marc Anderson who sent it to Will Josephson who was unmarked on the wing and he dived over to score.
A sensational intercept and subsequent try by Westside’s centre saw them streak away for a 38-4 lead at half time.
The tough physical game, featuring a lot of big hits, continued in the second half and, while Cobar rallied with two tries (Sione Fakahua crossed and Josephson scored a second) and Cobar limited the Bunnies’ opportunities in the second half, Westside won 66-12.
Reserve Grade: The Cobar side took a while to settle into their Reserve Grade match and were down 10-0 before they played themselves into the game.
After good lead up work from regular First Grade Forward Ben Simon (playing in the No 1 Fullback’s jersey), Matt Shepherd crossed to put the Roosters into the game.
Westside muscled their way over the line to extend their lead to 14-4 before James Frazer kicked through, recovered and palmed off two defenders to score under the posts.
Frazer’s conversion of his own try put Cobar narrowly behind 14-10 at the break.
Another converted try gave Westside plenty of breathing space to lead 20-10 and gave them a buffer while one of their players spent time in the sin bin after he attempted to punch Cobar’s Wade Potter. Both sides added another try to their tallies and when Simon scored close to the posts the crowd became very vocal.
Westside clung on for a thrilling 24-20 win.
Under 18s: With a full side and extras on the bench, the Cobar juniors were looking a good bet up against the Westside team who only travelled with nine players on Sunday.
The match however deteriorated with three players from each side all spending time in the sin bin. Brandon Jones and Callum Worth were standouts for Cobar with both scoring a try each for the Roosters. Jones converted both.
