THE Oberon Tigers’ top three hopes in the Group 10 competition were all but ended by a narrow 20-18 loss to the Bathurst Panthers on Sunday.
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The Tigers are now most likely to finish fifth, which will qualify them for an elimination away semi-final.
It was a game of two halves in which a patched-up Oberon outfit dominated the Panthers in the first half to lead 14-8, only for the Panthers to return for the second stanza with all guns blazing to quickly overtake the Tigers and hold on for a win.
With captain/coach Luke Branighan still sidelined with injury, it was an unlikely halves combination of Ben McAlpine and Tui Oloapu who were charged with leading the Oberon team around the park.
It seemed to be working, though, as the Tigers took an early lead after McAlpine landed a 40/20 kick to have the Panthers defending their line earlier than they would have liked. Feasting off a Panthers fumble, McAlpine swooped on the loose ball and skipped away to post the first four-pointer.
Oloapu was given the kicking duties and duly slotted the ball over from the sideline to have the Tigers up 6-0.
Both packs were tearing into each other, with the likes of Oberon’s Josh Starling and Mickey Hawkings waging an absolute war on the Panthers’ Brent Seager and co.
The physicality from both sides was unrivalled thus far this season, with the force of each collision shaking the stands.
Panthers opened their account after a neat reverse pass from captain/coach Doug Hewitt found Jack Seika on the charge to put the Panthers back in the race at 6-4 down.
Oberon’s kicking game was on-point with McAlpine’s bombs causing the Panthers’ back three no end of trouble. With the weight of territory and possession clearly in the Tigers’ favour, McAlpine put through a neat chip kick for Oloapu to regather and send Lochie Gilmore over for Oberon’s second try. Starling missed the conversion from out wide and the scoreline moved on to 10-4 in favour of the visitors.
Shortly after, another McAlpine bomb was spilled by the Panthers for Matt Ballinger, making his return to the top grade, to swoop and scoot over to extend Oberon’s lead to 14-4. This time Trent Guihot was thrown the ball, but failed to convert.
Panthers were now well and truly flustered and their error rate was climbing. With the Tigers in full command and threatening to extend their lead, Hewitt managed to narrow the gap against the run of play with a well-weighted kick that was regathered for a Panthers try minutes before the half-time siren.
At 14-8 up, Branighan was happy with his troops at half-time despite what he called letting in two soft tries. He felt that his forward pack were on top and urged his men to maintain the intensity and effort. Blake Fitzpatrick left the field in the first half with a recurring ankle injury to take no further part in the game, adding to the Tigers’ mounting injury list.
Meanwhile, Hawkins’ head was swathed in bandages to stem the flow of blood as the Tigers took to the field.
Over in the other sheds, the Panthers were regrouping and as they ran out you could sense that they were about to throw everything at the Tigers. And that’s exactly what they did within the opening minutes as Blake Lawson wrong-footed the defence to get Bathurst on level terms at 14-apiece.
Shortly after, Panthers struck again through a one-on-one strip to race 30 metres upfield and hit the front at 20-14.
The tide was turning and this time it was the Tigers who were letting mistakes creep into their game.
Every tackle saw three or four Panthers hitting the Oberon attackers as their intensity lifted.
The situation looked dire for Oberon and it took a concerted effort with only 12 minutes remaining before they could mount a decent attacking raid and find themselves in the Panthers red zone.
After Jackson Brien came within a whisker of scoring, the ball was spun wide and Oloapu put his head down, fighting for every inch of ground to thump the ball down for Oberon’s fourth try.
McAlpine stepped up to take the crucial conversion attempt, but the ball sailed wide of the posts for Oberon to trail 20-18.
With the clock ticking down, Brien had the Tigers supporters on their feet as he broke through to race towards the tryline, only to be cut down in a try-saving tackle by Hewitt.
With less than a minute remaining, the Tigers were still probing a scrambling Panthers defence. Abel Lefaoseu looked to have pulled the game out of the fire as he barged over out wide only to be forced into touch before he could get the ball down as the siren sounded.
In a heart-breaking loss, Jake Dawe was awarded the Tigers’ players’ player award and three points. The two and one went to Josh Starling and Tui Oloapu.
This week the Tigers travel to Wade Park to face the ladder-leading Orange Hawks.