OBERON kept their charge for the semi-finals alive with a well-deserved 32-24 victory over the much-improved Orange Hawks at Wade Park on Sunday. With captain/coach Luke Branighan sidelined for the next six weeks with a broken thumb, the Tigers went into the match wary of a Hawks team on the rise who had given the high-flying Bathurst Panthers an almighty scare the previous week.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Within the first nine minutes of the game, however, the Tigers were pressuring the Hawks’ line and livewire hooker Luke Carpenter was able to scoot over under the posts for the first try of the match. Blake Fitzpatrick, taking over the kicking duties, duly converted for the Tigers to open up an early 6-0 lead.
Five minutes later, Anton Wereta hoisted a perfectly placed cross-field bomb for the flying Matt Ballinger to pluck out of the air and score out wide. Wereta continued to terrorise the Hawks with his tactical kicking throughout the match.
The Tigers were well and truly in control when Dave Sellers, returning from injury, managed a deft offload near the Hawks’ line for the ever-present Carpenter to notch his second converted try. Oberon extended their lead to 16-0.
The Hawks, to their credit, stayed in the game, settling in for the grind and being rewarded with the next two tries to bring the score back to 16-10 in favour of Oberon. The Tigers rallied and sent Tyler Hughes over close to the posts for Fitzpatrick to add the extras.
With half-time approaching and the Tigers up 22-10, the Hawks were given a penalty on the siren, which Willie Heta slotted between the posts from 40 metres out. The teams went to the sheds with Oberon leading 22-12 and clearly the dominant side in the first 40 minutes.
Oberon came out firing in the second half and within two minutes Wereta once again put up a “pin-point accurate” cross-field kick for Hughes to regather for a try out wide to lengthen the lead to 26-12. The Oberon pack started to roll downfield with authority and on the back of a break and quick play-the-ball from Ryan Verlinden, Carpenter struck again to duck out from dummy half with a 30 metre sprint before linking up with his support to send Hughes over in the corner for his hat-trick.
Most at the ground would agree that at 30-12 it was a fair indication of the Tigers’ supremacy. However, at this point the Oberon boys seem to drop their intensity. Hawks captain Heta then changed tactics by stationing his massive and mobile front rower Sione Tongia out wide. From there he was able to feed Tongia long cutout passes to run onto at pace, resulting in two quick tries. From this point on the Oberon faithful took a collective deep breath as we settled in to defend a lead that was whittled down to 30-24 with nine minutes remaining.
With two minutes remaining, Blake Fitzpatrick coolly slotted a penalty to seal the victory. Players’ player and man of the match went to Luke Carpenter with Jake Dawe and Anton Wereta also picking up well-deserved points.
FIRST DIVISION: The first division side put in a tradesman-like and enthusiastic performance in their first half to comfortably lead 16-0, running out eventual winners 32-8. The forwards’ bench rotation proved seamless and the Oberon pack was able to provide a great platform for the backs, with fullback Josh Rivett cutting loose. Sam Gascoigne took control of the game and led his troops around the park. Caylib Mastin had an outstanding game and pitched in with a two-try effort. Other try scorers were Jacob Howes, Rivett (2), Baily Rogers and Dallas Booth. Players’ player and man of the match went to Josh Rivett.
UNDER 18s: THE under 18s and league tag teams both went down to the Hawks.
The Oberon Tigers will travel to Cowra on Sunday to take on the Magpies: league tag at 10.30am, under 18s at 11.30am, first division at 12.45pm and premier league at 2.30pm. Come along and support the Tigers!
