There's some good and bad news for Cowra Eagles fans: The team have found their groove again, playing some impressive footy during the second half against the Orange Emus.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The bad news? It came against a stoic Emus defence, who held out the spirited Eagles' late offensive run despite some ill-discipline and penalties to take home a three point win at the Cowra Rugby Grounds on Saturday afternoon.
The 27-24 result means the Eagles sit in third going into the final phase of Blowes Clothing Cup games, while the Emus, while by no means convincing, have strengthened their hold on second spot by taking away five points from the match.
Starting out with a minute's silence as a tribute to Cowra's Jim Montgomery, the recently departed father of local players Jimmy, Jeremy and Steven, the game quickly found itself going the home side's way early.
Ross Hynes got on the end of an early intercept to score the match's first try, with Ingmar Talman converting the first of his four successful goal attempts for the day, putting the Eagles out to an early 7-0 lead.
However, it proved to be a false alarm, with three consecutive tries helping the Emus get out to a 17-14 lead at half-time, with some difficult misses from Emus skipper Nigel Staniforth helping to contain the scoreline, though the Eagles got a try and conversion back of their own before the major break.
I think we were lucky to keep 15 men on the field for as long as we did... we just did ourselves no favours in the second half.
- Emus hooker Charlie Henley
The intensity of the contest continued to ratchet up in the second half, with an early exchange of penalty goals (one to Talman and one to Staniforth) giving way to a contentious Emus try from a line-out during the 15th minute.
Staniforth, finding his range after a wayward start, kicked truly and it seemed like the Emus were going to run away with it at 27-17 despite the increasing competitiveness in the packs from the Eagles.
However, confronting the gauntlet of a third straight loss, the Eagles dug deep, holding the ball in the front 20 to 30 metre lines for most of the match's remainder.
Emus, who gave away several needless penalties in the second half, were also stoic, holding out an Eagles outfit that against a lesser defence would've easily put through three or four tries such was their offensive drive.
A late try in extra time was all the home side could muster though, leaving them only three points short as the final whistle was blown.
Emus hooker Charlie Henley said the reigning premiers were happy to take a win given what transpired late.
"We'll always take the five points coming away...We just didn't touch the ball [in] that second half and gave away penalties," Henley explained, adding that the team was fortunate to have only copped a yellow card in the game's final moments.
"I think we were lucky to keep 15 men on the field for as long as we did... we just did ourselves no favours in the second half."
However, despite the late fade-out Henley said there was plenty of positives take out of the game with some new player combinations working well.
"Our set piece was strong the whole game. They've got a massive pack... we had two new props, a second rower that came in this week," he said.
"[To] hold our own in the scrum and line out and disrupt every one of their balls was nice.
"I'll take that everyday of the week as a hooker."
The Emus will take on the Platypi in Forbes next weekend, while the Eagles will travel to Orange to take on the Lions.
- ORANGE EMUS 27 (Tries: Simon Badgery, Tom Green, unknown 2, Goals: Nigel Staniforth 2, Penalty Goal: Nigel Staniforth) def COWRA EAGLES 24 (Tries: Ross Hynes, Daimen Michael, unknown, Goals: Ingmar Talman 3, Penalty Goal: Ingmar Talman)
READ ALSO:
