WERRIS Creek swooped on a depleted Cowboys outfit to pull off a huge victory on a slippery Dungowan Recreation Reserve on Saturday to claim equal second on the Group 4 Second Division Shield ladder.
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The 62-12 victory and Boggabri’s win over Bundarra have made a three-way tie for second, with the Magpies, Dungowan Cowboys and Boggabri Roos now all sitting on 12 points, three points behind Uralla Tigers who walloped hapless Wee Waa 76-10 at Woodville Oval on Saturday.
With centre Mitchell Cooper crossing for four tries, the Tigers scored 14 tries in all against the 13-man Panthers.
Incredibly Boggabri and Werris Creek have exactly the same for and against stats to share second place, while the Cowboys sit in fourth some 98 differential points behind.
Kootingal sits in fifth following the bye.
It is not often a club leaves the Dungowan Recreation Reserve with two wins but that is exactly what the Magpies did, with the Magpie girls grinding out an exciting 18-12 Ladies League Tag win over the Cowgirls, before the men put in their best performance of the season to easily muster the Cowboys.
Injury, sickness and other commitments left the home side struggling this week.
Key players such as halfback Matt Wilson, hooker Shaun Ferguson, centre Zander Smith and a few key forwards left big holes in the Cowboys outfit, only fielding 14 players for what was always going to be a tough match after the Cowboys sprung a round one win over the Creek at their David Taylor Park home base at Werris Creek.
The Magpies were also coming in underdone, although it didn’t take long for them to get on the front foot, with Nathaniel Slater crossing for an early double to go 10-6 after Cowboys skipper Clint Ridley hit back.
Following that, it was all Magpies as Beau Perry showed good skill to put big prop Thomas Brown in some space to stroll over before Cody Tickle scored his first of a double to take the score to 22-6 with only five minutes to go in the half.
In that time, Werris Creek scored another two tries, with Zac Darcy catching the kick-off and bursting through the defensive line to go all the way, before Tickle bagged his second on the bell for a 34-6 halftime scoreline.
The second half was much the same, with Marcus Doran crossing only seconds into the half, before winger Graham Porter and fullback Marty Shaw each crossed twice to run out big winners 62-12.
Dungowan president Bruce Henry said that while he expected the side would lose, he didn’t expect that scoreline, as the Cowboys went from second to fourth with the loss.
Magpies coach Lindsay Bowne thought it was the most complete game his side had put on all season.
“We were solid all over the park,” Bowne said.
“We limited their opportunities with solid defence and controlled the ruck.”
Fullback Shaw was a stand-out with some dangerous runs through the line while hooker Tickle and prop Brown also impressed, although it was the long flat balls on the line from halfback Brendan Hunt that seemed to do the most damage to the Cowboys.
Hunt’s ability to change the attacking line from side to side with one ball proved invaluable as the Cowboys tired and leaked points on both sides.
“We wanted to get one back on them and now look forward to Uralla in two weeks,” Bowne said.
