Girlannas claim thrilling victory over Orange United

There has been a change to the normal game time with this match now starting at 4pm. The following weekend of May 11/12 there is a general bye in the competition due to the Woodbridge Cup v George Tooke Shield representative games to be held at Cowra on the Saturday.

Grenfell will be back in action on Sunday, May 19 when they host Manildra and Cowra (Youth League) at Lawson Oval. Last Sunday at Lawson Oval and in near perfect conditions for Rugby League Grenfell hosted the Orange United Warriors in all three grades and following are the match reports.

YOUTH LEAGUE

After a fairly tight opening to the match Orange were able take advantage of some Grenfell mistakes and they went to the break holding a 14 nil lead. Orange had no bench to call on but they were still too good for a relatively young and inexperienced Grenfell outfit and ran out 36-10 winners.

The young Goannas were able to score two tries in the second half through Braydon Smith with Chase McFarlane knocking over a conversion. Best for the home side were Rhys Hughes, Braydon Smith, Benji Reid (Players Player), Riley Bowerman, and Chase McFarlane. Craig Smith picked up the $260 calcutta first try scorer bonus.

LEAGUE TAG

This match was a close affair (6 all at half-time) but it looked like the Warriors had done enough to get the points when they led 16-10 with just a few minutes left on the clock. At this point however Holli Madgwick snuck down the blind-side to score out wide and Sophie Berry stepped up and kicked the difficult conversion to lock it up at 16 all.

From the kick-off the Girlannas moved quickly down-field and Holli Madgwick drew a penalty giving Sophie Berry a chance to win the game for the locals. From 22 metres out and just to the right of the posts Sophie landed the pressure goal with a bit of help from a ricochet off the left hand upright and the Girlannas had completed a thrilling 18-16 victory.

Grenfell's other tries came from Alana O'Loughlin who opened the scoring and a length of the field effort from Faith Smith after snapping up a kick. Craig Smith again came up trumps with the first try scorer Calcutta bonus and collected a further $200.

Caitlin Dixon had a big game for the locals and she was well supported by Holli Madgwick and Alana O'Loughlin. Three players shared the Players Player and they were Faith Smith, Bella Taylor, and Sophie Berry.

FIRST GRADE

This match can best be described as bizarre. Grenfell led 24-10 at half-time and were playing well and it looked like they might chalk up their first points of the season.

In the past couple of seasons the Goannas have made a habit of unravelling in the second halves of their matches and Sunday was no exception.

Orange came out after half-time and in the first 18 minutes they put on 28 unanswered points through five tries with a couple of the tries coming from kicks and freakish bounces.

The Warriors were all over the Goannas leading 38-24 and it is likely that the locals didn't touch the ball once in the first 20 minutes of the second half. To their credit the Goannas fought back and were only down 36-38 and finishing the match with plenty of momentum.

In the final 5 minutes the Goannas had chances to win and/or draw the match but they missed a penalty goal from 48 metres out, had the ball punched out as their winger was going to score from a cross kick and then with only 20 seconds left on the clock and 15 metres out from the posts a heavy hit on Caleb Haddin looked a chance of being a penalty and a gift two points but it was not to be.

The Warriors took the match 38-36. Caleb Haddin picked up the Players Player and Best & Fairest points as well as three tries. Other players to stand out were Herold Parker, Ty Ashe, Will Brown, and Isaac Jones. Mark Horne picked up the $280 first try scorer bonus when Nou Rarua (Jersey No. 1) opened the scoring for Grenfell.