THE Cowboys, Tigers and Kangaroos banked the first competition points of the Group 4 season as the newly formed Second Division Shield got underway in windy conditions all over the region.
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A gale was howling across Captain Cook Oval in Wee Waa as Uralla welcomed the Panthers to the division with a win in both the men’s and ladies league tag.
Tigers frontrower Jake Andrews was the visitors’ best in the 32-12 win, with coach Justin Fox happy with the win but not wanting to get ahead of himself after just one game.
“It was a tough day in very tough and windy conditions so we are just lucky to come away with the two points,” Fox told The Leader.
Wee Waa were out of the blocks the best, scoring first, before the Tigers warmed to the occasion, outscoring the hosts eight tries to two and leaving them scoreless in the second half as Glen Swilkes and Luke Blanch both scored doubles.
Uralla’s back three combination of Nathan Wallace, Harley Carlen and Ethan Callias also impressed Fox in the opener.
“The back three had a really solid game and were in everything,” Fox said.
“They held the team together in parts of the game.”
At Werris Creek the Magpies paid the price for poor ball security as Dungowan took the points home on the back of a solid season starter.
Cowboys halfback Matt Wilson, five-eight Brock Morgan and hooker Shaun Ferguson had the ball moving well in patches, the Cowboys running away with the game to put on three tries in the final 10 minutes after breaking a 10-all second half deadlock to win 28-10.
Coach Luke Taylor was another that was happy to get away with the points after a scrappy game.
“It was good to get the win to start the season,” Taylor said.
“We are going to have to keep stepping up and have plenty of improvement to do before Boggabri next week.”
Second rower Clint Ridley scored a double and took the ref’s points after he and fellow back rower Mark Macaulay caused plenty of trouble on the edges and worked hard in defence all game.
Centre Zander Smith also picked up a double.
In Boggabri the Kangaroos started their centenary season in fine style with two big wins at Jubilee Oval against debutantes Bundarra Bears.
The Kangaroo ladies league tag side won 66-nil before the Kangaroo men delivered a 70-4 blow.
Boggabri club president Greg Haire said it was a great start for his club .
“The girls had a great win, they’ve got a couple of new players,” Haire said.
“They’ve been copping some big losses themselves, so to win like that, scoring five or six tries from halfway was great.”
