THE Cowra Magpies dealt what looked like a serious blow to Oberon's hopes to force their way into a top five qualifying finish with a strong 34-16 win at Sid Kallas Oval on Sunday.
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Returning from a four-week suspension, Josh Starling started himself off the bench alongside Richie Peckham, who missed last week's victory over St Pat's.
Cowra were dominant in the early exchanges and crossed for the opening try of the game within the first four minutes of play.
The Magpies had an early 6-0 lead and were enjoying a huge share of possession when Cowra's Blake Tidswell, celebrating his 100th game for the club, tucked the ball under his arm and charged for the Tigers' tryline.
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A swarm of defenders were unable to hold the big man up and Cowra extended their early lead to 12-0, scoring at a point a minute.
Oberon's woes continued when Lochie Gilmore, starting the game at hooker, left the field with an arm injury in the 20th minute. This brought Peckham onto the field, but left the Tigers one man down on the bench for the remainder of the match.
Starling entered the game with 18 minutes left in the half and was joined shortly afterwards by Ty Simmonds. The extra size had an immediate impact when, with only his second touch of the day, Simmonds smashed through the defence to score.
Farren Lamb converted for Oberon to trail 12-6 with 10 minutes left in the half.
Cowra responded soon after, though, with a chip and regather to score out wide. The conversion was unsuccessful and the hosts took a 16-6 lead. The Tigers shot back straight away and were peppering the Cowra tryline as the half-time siren sounded.
After the break, it was Oberon who took the early advantage. Prolific try-scorer Matt Ranse spotted an opening close to the line and scythed through to give the Tigers the early break they were wanting. Lamb's trusty boot converted and the gap closed to 16-12.
The next passage of play saw Cowra in the ascendancy, trapping the Tigers in their in-goal on two consecutive occasions.
With the Tigers battling to defend their line, Jackson Brien provided the spark with a long break as he streaked away towards the tryline.
Cowra's fullback Jeremy Gordon, as the last line of defence, was able to bring Brien down short of the line.
Now that momentum had swung back to the Tigers, it was Cowra who were trapped in-goal.
From the restart, Starling fired a long pass out to a waiting Matt Ranse, who clapped on the speed before slipping the ball to Jacob Howes to post the equaliser.
For once, Lamb's radar was off. With the conversion missed, the scores remained 16-16 with 15 minutes left on the clock.
At this point, the game went a little crazy.
Cowra's Claude Gordon was sent to the sin-bin for 10 minutes after a high shot on Ranse.
Shortly after, the Tigers' Blake Fitzpatrick was involved in a sickening collision with Cowra's big front-row forward Lewis Dwyer.
While Dwyer was knocked out cold and eventually escorted off the field, Fitzpatrick was also assisted from the field for a head knock assessment.
To complete the 'walking wounded scene', Brien then suffered a head gash and was replaced for five minutes while he was being patched up by the medical staff.
Meanwhile, amid all the carnage, Cowra's speedy Lee McClintock squeezed through a gap out wide and accelerated towards the corner post to put Cowra further in front 22-16.
While Cowra lifted from this point, the opposite could be said about the Tigers, as the hosts ran in two more late tries to drive the final nail in the Tigers' coffin with a 34-16 victory.
The league tag girls proved to be the only shining light for the Tigers on the day.
Despite being down 16-6 at halftime, the girls rallied to surge to the front and post a 20-16 victory. Majayda Darcy scored two tries and Shannon Fisher and Kyra Humphries each grabbed a try, supported by great goal-kicking from Jade Taggart.
The girls are enjoying their most successful year to date under coach Tahlia Nugent.
After a bye this week, the Tigers return to Oberon for the Can Assist charity round on Saturday, August 10 against Blayney.
This is the biggest event in the Tigers' calendar, so keep your eye on the paper for further updates.