On the last Thursday of term two, two rugby league teams travelled from Oberon to Dubbo to play in the small schools tournament.
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Oberon’s teams comprised students from Oberon High School, Oberon Public School and St Joseph’s Central School.
This mixture of players from local schools proved to be a strong force in both the under 13s and under 16s.
Both teams won their finals, the under 16s winning 30-22 and the under 13s 16-10.
Coaches Matt Leven and Nick Bender said they were pleased with the outstanding efforts from all players on the day.
A spokesperson said special mention must be made of Chris Dunbar who was voted man of the match in the under 16s for displaying freakish talent in both offence and defence.
Both teams will now travel north to Coonabarabran on Thursday, July 28 to contest the next level of the competition.
Both teams say they are hoping to have many supporters there to cheer them on.
Sport in brief: draw fallout
The Mudgee Dragons have been told they must get mentally tougher after their 26-all draw against the Oberon Tigers in Group 10 rugby league on Sunday.
The draw against the Tigers followed Mudgee’s 34-all result against St Pat’s the previous weekend.
It left Dragons captain Jared Robinson questioning whether the Mudgee premiers have the mental stamina needed to take on top-of-the-ladder sides.
“The players are physically tough enough, but we have to get mentally tougher,” he said.
“This is two weeks in a row when we haven’t been able to close out the game.
“As I said last week, there is no point in playing well for 65 minutes and not for the last 15.
“It’s not going to get any easier. Next week we play Orange CYMS, who are top of the ladder, so we have to to try to sort this out.”
Meanwhile, the Oberon Tigers’ opponents this weekend, Orange Hawks, will be looking to bounce back after suffering a shellacking at the hands of St Pat’s at Orange on Sunday.
The embattled Hawks leaked 58 points and scored just six as St Pat’s ran in 11 tries to one.
Hawks coach Jason Gangaram said plenty of factors affected his side’s performance, but the fact the two blues hadn’t played for a month was the most obvious.
“The month we’ve had off showed there,” he said.
“It all comes down to match fitness for us. St Pat’s played a few games during that period and we didn’t. It showed.
“You know, Hawks never seem to have much luck whether it be the weather, or the bounce of the ball or even calls sometimes.
“We had three tries disallowed in that game and bombed another one as well.
“I still don’t think we’re far off, to be honest. There's periodswhere we’re playing really well and getting a roll-on. We just can’t seem to keep that up for any real length of time.
“But the boys aren't quitting, they’re turning up for each other, and that’s a real positive.”
The Oberon Tigers will play the Orange Hawks on Saturday.