WEST Lions started well in what coach Shane Rampling labelled a “stop-start” game and his Oxley Diggers counterpart, Tim Coombes, thought his side lost their way in a weird Group 4 clash yesterday.
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West won 66-12 but the game was as good as dead after just two minutes when Diggers fullback Kieran Williams was sent off for tripping.
The Lions capitalised, running in six tries to lead 34-nil before winger Daniel Nigro was injured in a tackle before prop Tom Hine burst over for the second of his two tries.
Nigro’s neck injury called a halt to the game as he was attended to before being taken by ambulance to Tamworth Base Hospital.
Club officials advised players in the sheds after the game he appeared to be okay but was undergoing more tests last night.
The game re-started with Sam Taylor converting the try and a 36-nil lead.
The Diggers did fight back, scoring a try before halftime to deserving prop Sam Schiffman and then another, laid on by Schiffman, in the second half to make it 36-12.
However, that was as close as the Diggers got as they fell apart.
Coombes was a sombre man after the game.
He had injured his left hand early in the game too and played on before coming off at half-time and watch his team disintegrate.
“When things started to go bad, everything just compounded,” he said.
“It was very frustrating to watch.
“Losing Kieran in the first couple of minutes didn’t help but we played some good football too.
“Micah (Scarth) and Scott (Berry) and big Sam (Schiffman).
“But when everything went against us it just snowballed and we lost our way.
“We were down to eight at one stage I think.
“Funnily enough we leaked more points early than we did when we had eight.”
West coach Shane Rampling was hoping to get out of the game unscathed but had to endure the sight of young centre DJ Smith in pain on the massage table with his dislocated ankle.
He was glad to hear Nigro seemed to be okay as well.
“We lost Chris Hunt and Luke Cox early too,” he said.
“At one stage we had no one left on the bench .
“Losing DJ is going to be a massive blow for us and test our depth.”
The return of Tom Hine has been a bonus but they now lose him for a couple of weeks as he has an ankle operation .
“He was our players’ player,” Rampling said.
“But we will miss him for a couple of weeks now too.”
