THEY were somewhat the walking wounded but the New England colts retained their spot in the Country Championship top tier draw with a 17-10 win over Central North in their play-off clash on Sunday.
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The Lions cubs had headed into the championships with high hopes and were only a few minutes away from playing for the silverware.
They led Central Coast 14-10 but eventually yielded to the pressure the Sea Hawks applied in the second half, conceding a late try to go down 17-14.
“It was a case of we had our opportunities,” coach Mark Charter said.
But some untimely injuries derailed them.
They lost inspirational number seven Riley Hopwood in the first half to a suspected anterior cruciate ligament injury.
He was probably the best player on the field at that point, Charter said, and it was a big blow.
It was compounded with about 10 to go when skipper, and fellow Country representative, Sinclair Clinton was forced off with a dislocated thumb.
They’d not long before that also lost centre Ben Blyton.
“Some of the performances out there yesterday were outstanding,” Charter said on Sunday.
“Until the casualty ward started, we were looking good.
“We were playing with width and speed and creating opportunities.”
They led 7-nil, and then 7-5 at the break, before pushing out to 14-5.
As is often the way with close losses you reflect on little moments.
“When we were up 14-5 we had one half-chance,” Charter said.
“If it sticks we’re up 21-5.”
Or at least 19-5.
“As the game went on they (Central Coast) were very effective at slowing down the play,” he said.
“That played havoc with our strategies.”
It stifled them from being able to play the quick game that was working so effectively for them.
With the injuries, they also had to make a lot of alignment changes and struggled to get their patterns right.
The loss meant they were then on Sunday fighting for their Tier 1 survival.
They admittedly didn’t play their best football but they got the win, which was the important thing.
“I think everyone was a bit flat after yesterday,” Charter said on Sunday.
“But the guys got into and got the job done today.”
“We’re over the moon staying in the top tier.”
Sam Callow was outstanding for them over the weekend at number eight and duly named colts player of the tournament.
Ben Carmichael also had a big game, stepping up when Clinton went off.
Jono Green, Tim Beare and Keegan Size also had big games.
For Size, Sunday saw a bit of sibling rivalry play out, with younger brother Connor lining up at five-eighth for the Kookaburras.
Charter was also impressed with his young five-eighth Harry Wardle and the centre pair of Liam Salmon and Tom Fisher.
