MOREE’S Boomerangs and Boars both celebrated 50-point hauls and wins in Group 19 first grade clashes on Saturday as Tingha won the battle of the Tigers and Armidale Rams overcame the visiting Boars.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Armidale Rams dusted off Goondiwindi Boars 54-20 at Rugby League Park on Saturday to go outright third on the Group 19 table.
Big prop Apakuke Mate was in devastating form, Rams president Terry Carson said.
“He was outstanding,” Carson said.
“But we were good right across the park today.
“Apakuke was outstanding. He made some big runs and his defence was great.”
English hooker Jamie Smith was in brilliant touch too and spearheaded the Rams, scoring three tries.
Fred Waters also crossed for two tries in a 24-point effort.
Another big islander, Saimone Baiukula, also excelled at Woodville Oval, Uralla but his efforts for his Uralla Tigers were to no avail.
The Tingha Tigers won 44-30 in a see-sawing game the visitors started well and led 22-4 at halftime.
However the home Tigers surged to lead 26-24 at one stage of the second half before Tingha responded with another surge of its own, Uralla coach Carl Press said.
“We did get back to 38-30 again but they scored a late try to finish us off,” Press said.
“Saimone was our players’ player. He was fantastic, played the full 80 minutes.
“He made some strong carries and had some good offloads too.
Sam Press backed up from the 18s too and scored three tries in first grade.
“The big frontrower, Fitzy, was Tingha’s best,” Carl Press said. “He was real good for them and kept going.
“Young Troy Connors , their halfback, steered them around the park well too.”
While the Moree Boomerangs beat Inverell Hawks 50-30 at Moree’s Boughton Oval, the Moree Boars beat Ashford Roosters 54-20 at Ashford
Sportsground.
Boars fullback Joe Henderson crossed for four tries, Ben Williams scored three and David McGrady raced in two, with Connor Ryan the other tryscorer for the visiting Boars.
“It was a good win,” Boars coach Wayne Hetherington said.
“We led 26-6 at halftime but they got back to 26-20 in the second half.
“They had all the ball and we had to defend three sets of six on our line at one stage.
“When we finally got though it all, Joey Henderson sparked us, created a magic try and we went from there.
“Ashford are going all right too and I was pretty pleased to get away with that, especially as we hadn’t had a game for three weeks because of the bye and the refs’ strike.”
Henderson, Sam Armstrong and Ryan were best for the Boars.