OBERON secured a semi spot and exacted revenge for their first round loss to St Pat's by keeping the blue and whites scoreless in a 14-0 win on Saturday.
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Both coaches acknowledged that it was a fairly sloppy game marred by a lot of dropped ball and poor completion rates. However, there was nothing wrong with Oberon’s enthusiasm as they smashed the Saints’ attack with aggressive defence.
There’s no love lost between the clubs as evidenced by the sin-binning of Tigers second-rower Matt Wakefield and his Pat's counterpart in the seventh minute of the second half and the sending-off of Tiger Brian Maher and Saint Brady Cheshire on the full-time siren.
The Tigers started the match strongly and managed to trap St Pat's in their in-goal early on to earn repeat sets. With Pat's pinned down deep in their own half, Oberon mounted even more pressure, resulting in a try at the eight-minute mark to in-form prop Jake Dawe, who was simply too strong close to the line. Anton Wereta slotted over an easy conversion and Oberon led 6-0.
With 15 minutes to the break, the Tigers refused to take an easy penalty shot and instead backed themselves to score. From the tap-kick, quick hands to their lethal left edge saw Trent Rose get on the outside of his opponent and score out wide.
With Oberon leading 10-0, Pat's cranked up the pace in a desperate attempt to get points on the board before half time.
Pat's threw everything at the Tigers' line in the last five minutes of the half, but the black and golds held firm.
In the sheds, coach Luke Branighan asked his men for a 30 per cent increase in effort, as they would be running into a stiff wind in the second half. He urged the backs to come in and take the pressure off the forwards. Winger Tyler Hughes was definitely listening to the coach’s half-time talk as evidenced by his players’ player award.
With just 13 minutes gone in the second half, the Tigers were again on top. Wereta put up a perfectly placed cross-field kick that landed inside the Saints’ tryline for Hughes to bat back to Abel Lefaoseu, who wrestled the ball to the ground for a four-pointer. The score remained at 14-0 for the rest of the match as both teams settled in for a dour finish.
Man of the match went to Lefaoseu, with players’ player and two points going to Tyler Hughes and one point to Luke Carpenter.
With three games left, it seems sure that Oberon has secured a place in the semi-finals. Captain/coach Branighan is looking to make his return from injury in the last round against Panthers and tearaway Tui Oloapu will come back this week from a one-game suspension.
FIRST DIVISION
DALLAS Booth’s men came from behind to win 16-12 to remain in the top four.
Oberon trailed 12-0, so it was a gritty performance to wear down Pat's and claim victory.
Josh Rivett scored a double in a scintillating second-half performance, with Lochie Gilmour picking up the other try.
Players’ player went to Nathan Booth and Rivett and Sam Gascoigne picked up the remaining points.
The under 18s and league tag teams came up against a couple of red-hot Pat’s outfits and were both over-run.
This week the Tigers travel to Blayney. League tag will start at 10am and premier league at 1.40pm.