Despite struggling to win a game this year, the Bears can be dangerous, having given third-placed Hawks an almighty scare in round seven the week before. The Tigers were missing in-form centre Abel Lefaoseu due to family commitments, which gave coach Josh Starling the opportunity to reward the Tigers' young gun, Ray Sargent, with a well-deserved debut into first grade off the bench.

Despite a reshuffled backline, Starling had the Tigers primed for an explosive start. Within five minutes, prolific try-scorer Richie Peckham had taken Oberon to a 6-nil lead. On the back of a dominant first 10 minutes, the Tigers were playing confidently, with crisp passing a feature of their game, leading to a Jake Dawe try. Farren Lamb, with radar-like accuracy, converted from wide out to extend the lead to 12-0.

Fullback Jackson Brien has been terrorising opposition defences all season, and he was in no mood to ease up against Blayney. From anywhere on the paddock he was a danger, with a long-range bust resulting in a Matt Ranse try to take the Tigers to 18-0. Within the blink of an eye, Brien was at it again. This time he didn't need any support as he tore off on a 60-metre run to the tryline. Once again, Lamb converted.

With a sizeable 24-0 lead, the Tigers seemed to drop intensity, allowing the Bears to courageously fight back and post a four-pointer. At 24-4, something needed to happen to get the Oberon machine back on track before halftime.

Blake Fitzpatrick, busy as usual, stepped up and regathered a Ranse midfield bomb to put the Tigers back on the attack in Blayney's territory. A few rucks later, Lamb burrowed over from dummy half to make it 28-4 in favour of the visitors.

Now that the Tigers had awakened, Ty Simmonds, playing on the wing, scattered defenders in a long charge down the sideline. As Blayney scrambled to reset their defensive line, Lamb, showcasing his instinctive style of play, threaded a grubber kick through heavy traffic for the ever-present Ranse to pounce for his second try of the day.

Returning after the break at 34-4, Brien resumed where he left off with another tearaway run downfield to find Lamb backing up, who somehow managed to unload to Simmonds. The big winger proved unstoppable as he dragged defenders over the line for an early second-half breakthrough.

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Despite being down 40-4, Blayney refused to yield and managed to take advantage of an Oberon defensive lapse to bring the scoreline to 40-10. The Tigers responded but were held up twice over the tryline before the Bears surged again. Working upfield, the Bears' big front row forward barged over under the crossbar to reduce the scoreline to 40-16.

With 16 minutes to go, Starling and fellow front row forward, Luke Christie Johnston, had a nasty head clash, resulting in Christie Johnston being sent to the sheds for medical assistance and a Head Injury Assessment.

Coming off the bench, Lochie Gilmore charged down a Bears clearing kick, regathered and raced 30 metres to the tryline with the Bears in hot pursuit. Lamb again converted to take Oberon out to a 46-16 lead.

Ranse put the icing on the cake with two minutes remaining when he sent a perfectly weighted kick in-goal for winger Elias Dukes to claim a four-pointer and take the final score to 50-16.

The Tigers' first division side, with a patched-up team, showed a lot of character to recover after a 10-0 halftime deficit and finally emerge victors 30-18. Even coach Joey Inzitari, with his playing days well behind him, pulled on the boots to help his men get the points.

The under 18s showed amazing grit and determination to eventually go down 32-22 after playing the entire game with only 12 players. The ever-improving league tag side fell just short 14-4 in a close game.

The Tigers travel to Carrington Park to take on ladder-leading Bathurst Panthers this Friday evening of the long weekend. The league tag will start at 5pm and the main game will kick off at 8.45pm.