Video interviewed after Uralla’s 24-14 win over the Magpies at Werris Creek on the weekend, young Tigers hooker Brodie Dexter innocently asked if he could smile.
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Well … yeah.
Limping and looking like he had been put through a car wash 10 times, Dexter nonetheless emitted an unmistakable glow – the kind you tend to see when someone has just produced a 24-carat sporting performance.
His three tries against Werris Creek – especially his spectacular third effort in which he showed real dash late in the match to score from 40 metres out – proved the difference in an intense encounter.
He did most of his talking on the field, his responses to post-match questions clipped, and he was keen to talk up the team effort rather than his individual performance.
“We gelled together as a team and we played well,” he said. “It felt good to get the boys over the line and seal the win.”
The victory over Werris Creek was the Tigers’ fourth in 10 rounds and their second in a row. It has been a big form turnaround for the side.
Two weeks ago, the Tigers stood in the in-goal area at Kootingal, heads and shoulders slumped, following another Roosters try in what was shaping as a flaying – the type of result that can kill seasons. A Tigers trainer told the forlorn players this: “It’s about whether you can look at yourselves in the mirror.”
The players, it seems, decided then and there to fight like their and their club’s dignity depended on it. Uralla largely stopped the bleeding and, although the 52-6 final scoreline didn’t flatter them, they left the field with their dignity intact. The following weekend Uralla beat Boggabri 24-20 in extra time.
On Saturday against Werris Creek, the longer the match progressed the better the Tigers got, and they beat a side who refused to yield by taking the Magpies’ best shots and then delivering the knockout blow.
Fittingly, the exclamation mark on the victory was provided by Dexter – his third try the match’s best: a dart from dummy half in which he skirted the right touchline and then cut back inside to race 40 metres and score under the posts. At that moment the difference between the forlorn Tigers of two weeks ago and the one celebrating a stirring victory was night and day. Dexter warned the other teams to watch out – the rebooted Tigers will not be intimidated.
“We’re training hard and we’re all gelling together now and we’re setting some patterns of play up and we’re really coming together,” he said. “We’re definitely gonna come back in the second half (of the season) and give them a good run for their money.”
The match was marked by two phases: a dogged defensive duel the Magpies narrowly won and an unexpected offensive duel won by the Tigers.
After the home side led 6-0 at the break, courtesy of a long-range solo effort by hooker Zac Buckley that was similar to Dexter’s match-sealer, Magpies lock Beau Parry sparked the momentum shift when sheer will propelled him over the 18 metres he chewed up in bullocking fashion to score and hand his side a 14-6 lead.
Uralla responded almost immediately when second-rower Josh Clark cut through the Magpies’ defence to score from 15 metres out.
He added the extras and it was 14-12 – soon to be 18-14 when Dexter scored his second try after Uralla halfback Keiren Stiff made a penetrating run and found himself in open space, before finding Dexter with a neat pass.
Uralla 24 (B Dexter 3, J Clark tries; Clark 4 goals) d Werris Creek 14 (Z Buckley, A Daniels, B Parry tries; M Saunders 1 goal)
