The women's league tag side, missing five of their starting line-up, surrendered an early lead to go down by the narrow margin of 14-10 while the men's first grade team staged an epic battle against their undefeated opponents to emerge victors in the dying minutes with a 28-24 scoreline.

WITH nearly a full squad available for the first time in a long while, coach Dallas Booth was quietly confident of getting the better of the high-flying Warriors who, having combined with Orange Barbarians, were undefeated to date.

When the dust had settled after a monumental clash of heavyweights, the Tigers' Greg Behan stood proud and tall after a five-star performance to lead his forwards into the teeth of the formidable Warriors pack and set up a nail-biting 28-24 win.

Oberon were first to draw blood through a Jacob Howes try which was converted by Jake Foley as the Tigers flew out of the blocks to take an early 6-0 lead.

Riccie Arriola and Blake Fitzpatrick, both playing their first game for the Tigers in 2021, were heavily involved from the outset making their presence felt, although Fitzpatrick left the field for a brief stint after a nasty incident that resulted in a Warriors player being sent to the sin-bin for 10 minutes.

Playing with a man down, the clever Warriors spine of Steve Lane, Jake Kelly, Matty Fuller and Dale Jones started to unravel the Oberon defensive structure. and within the blink of an eye the Warriors posted three tries to take control of the game and have the Oberon defence in tatters.

Going into the sheds at half-time the Warriors were up 18-6 and threatening to run away with the game.

The Tigers had it all in front of them and they knew they needed to score first after the resumption of play.

Oberon are currently sitting in fourth place, two wins behind the frontrunning Warriors. For Oberon to have any chance of hosting a semi-final they needed to launch a winning streak to claw back first round losses to CSU and Portland.

Oberon had the perfect start to the second stanza with the Warriors spilling a spiral bomb on their own tryline. Lochie Gilmore was first on the scene to pounce on the loose ball for a try close to the posts. Foley converted and the Tigers trailed 18-12.

The early strike seemed to lift the Tigers and from the restart they wasted no time in working play back upfield to lay siege on the Warriors tryline. Quick hands from Fitzpatrick to Jacob Howes resulted in the power-house centre crashing over to edge the Tigers closer at 18-16.

The Warriors were able to recover from the early Oberon onslaught and settled into the grind. It took a Greg Behan charge from close-range to break the deadlock and send the Tigers to the lead after the big prop dragged defenders over the line and planted the ball down for a four pointer. Foley's conversion put the Tigers back in front 22-18.

After the Warriors' Steve Lane was sent from the field for dissent the Tigers looked to be in a strong position. However, the bounce of the ball fell the Warriors way with a kick ricocheting off the posts to gift the home team a try and return them to the lead 24-22, with the full-time siren only minutes away.

The Tigers desperately fought their way back into an attacking position for one final assault.

Coach Dallas Booth wound back the clock with a determined run across the face of the goal line beating a number of defenders.

Booth was then able to link up with Kane Arriola who found space and crashed over to secure the win. A conversion after the bell by Luke Christie-Johnston from out wide put the icing on the cake 28-24.

THE depleted Tigers' outlook took the field with coach Shannon Foley having to pull on a jersey to ensure they had a full complement of players.

Despite being low on numbers, Lourie Bailey took early control of the game, scoring after the eighth minute mark for the Tigers to take an early 4-0 lead.

Just before half-time Renee Newstead put a deft kick in behind the defence for Bailey to pounce and score her second try of the day. Bailey converted her own try and the Tigers were well and truly on top going to the sheds at half-time with a 10-0 scoreline.

Ella Brien and Katie Sutherland were full of running and were troubling the Warriors defence. However, with fatigue starting to creep into the Tigers game the Warriors, using a full bench of interchange players, were able to stay in the contest and score next to reduce the visitors lead to 10-4.

The talk seemed to stop in the Tigers' camp as players were sapped of energy. Eventually the Tigers defensive resolve cracked letting in a close range try that they normally would have been able to stop to have the Warriors 'neck and neck' at 10 all.

The Orange side were next to score and take the lead for the first time in the match 14-10.

The Tigers somehow managed to fight back and looked likely to score and snatch a last-minute victory only for final passes going to ground, extinguishing any hope they had to rescue the result.

This Saturday the Tigers travel to Portland to take on the powerful Colts who are the current ladder leaders in Men's first grade and second place in League Tag.