THE good news is that the Oberon Tigers have finished outright third in the Group 10 Premier Division competition, and will play the Bathurst Panthers on Sunday at Carrington Park in the major semi-final.
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The bad news is that the Tigers were comprehensively beaten 54-4 by the Bathurst Panthers last Saturday.
Both sides would have been unhappy with their starts. Ball security was poor and completion rates were abysmal. At one point the Tigers had the meagre figures of five completions from 16 sets of possession.
Panthers were the first to strike after eight minutes to lead 6-0. It wasn’t until the 15 minute mark that the Tigers were able to threaten Bathurst in their own half. A promising break by Senio (Bob) Lefaoseu was snuffed out and, despite strong performances from Cody Godden, Luke Carpenter and Dave Sellers, Panthers bounced back and crossed the Tigers’ line to take the scoreline out to 10-0.
With five minutes remaining, Oberon clawed back into the match through a set play that saw Trent Rose offload to Jackson Brien, who planted the ball out wide for a try. Brien’s conversion attempt just narrowly shaved the outside of the sticks for Oberon to trail 10-4.
As the half-time siren sounded, Oberon were given a kickable penalty. This time Trent Rose took the attempt, once again shaving the paint off the outside of the goal-posts to see the Tigers go to the sheds trailing 10-4.
The second half didn’t start well for Oberon. After a Panthers 20-40 kick, Oberon were on the back-foot and the opposition didn’t miss the opportunity to post their third try and extend the lead to 16-4.
With a Tigers side missing Luke Branighan, Blake Fitzpatrick, Mike Ingwersen and Abel Lefaoseu, and a game-ending injury to halfback Blake Miller, the floodgates opened and the second half became a procession of tries for the Bathurst Panthers – either through good play or a fortuitous bounce of the ball. The Panthers could do no wrong.
What mustn’t go unsaid, though, is the wholehearted effort of the Oberon First Division players who backed up after their gruelling game, filling in for the injured Premier League players.
Players’ player and man of the match went to Jackson Brien, with Dave Sellers and Senio Lefaoseu picking up the remaining votes.
Oberon expect to field a near full-strength team for this Sunday’s semi-final at Carrington Park.
Mudgee will play Lithgow at Mudgee, meanwhile, in the elimination semi-final.
Orange CYMS earned the week off after earning a third straight premier league minor premiership.
Coach Luke Branighan, understandably fuming after the shellacking handed out to his side, is looking for commitment and intent from the players this week at training to get the Tigers’ premiership challenge back on course.
First Division couldn’t hold on to third place as they also faced a white-hot Bathurst outfit, going down 52-10 in what was a dark day for Oberon.
Dallas Booth’s men finished fourth and will meet St Pat’s this Sunday in a do-or-die elimination semi-final to be played just before the Premier League game at Carrington Park.