ST PAT’S have started their Group 10 under 18s season off in winning fashion thanks to a 22-4 win over the Oberon Tigers at the Bathurst Sportsground on Sunday.

The Saints weren’t especially fluent with ball in hand and poor discipline cost them more points, but their defence was immaculate, keeping a clean sheet until the penultimate minute of the game when Oberon finally crossed their line.

Pat’s fullback Dylan Gredka scored a brace for his side while centre Bailey Waldron and winger Bryton Thackeray each scored for the blue and whites, but it was their forward pack who deserved much of the credit for the win.

They were able to push Oberon onto the back foot for lengthy periods of the game, and on the rare occasions the Tigers did get into a position to launch an attacking raid, the Saints’ line-speed in defence and solid hitting ensured that no damage was done.

“I think our urgency in defence was outstanding considering it was the first game of the season,” coach Daniel Finn said after his team’s win.

“The forward pack in general were very good, we tried to rotate as many of them through the game as we could so we could get a good look at what they’re all capable of and most of them did a great job.

“I was very happy with our talk and our communication especially late in the game when Oberon was getting a fair bit of possession.”

Throughout the first half Pat’s held the ascendency and it was rare for the visitors to see the ball outside of their own defensive end. 

In the opening 15 minutes the hosts scored twice through Gredka and Waldron and straight away the threat loomed of another blow-out like the Tigers’ 42-4 opening round loss to Mudgee.

Showing some signs of rust however, Pat’s couldn’t quite get the roll-on that they looked certain to achieve, and both sides traded mistakes and penalties in the latter stages of the first half.

At one point Oberon looked like they may score through pivot Jarad Cesarone but he was cut down short of the line and a mistake followed to allow Pat’s off the hook.

A major blow followed for the Tigers as the Saints promptly marched up the other end of the field and crossed for their third in the shadows of half-time through Thackeray.

Jared Colling’s conversion made it 16-0 at the break.

Oberon needed to score first after half-time but every time they had a slight chance to build some pressure, an error would inevitably follow.

The Saints’ forwards continued to dominate the middle of the field and their dominance led to Gredka’s second four-pointer with a quarter of an hour to play, effectively sealing the result.

To their credit Oberon was gutsy and continued to press, and they were able to force Pat’s to make plenty of errors of their own in the final portion of the match which eventually led to a try for Kain Arriola.

Finn knows that his team will lift when they face some of the stronger teams later in the competition.

“The message I’ll be passing onto all the players is that if we make that many mistakes and give that much possession to a CYMS or Mudgee side we’ll probably get a lot of points put on us,” he said.

ST PAT’S 22 (Dylan Gredka 2, Bryton Thackeray, Bailey Waldron tries; Jared Colling 3 goals) defeated OBERON TIGERS 4 (Kain Arriola try)