RUGBY UNION
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Both Mudgee Wombats and Dubbo Roos will admit they did not field their strongest teams in Saturday’s Blowes Clothing Cup trial at Glen Willow Regional Sporting Complex.
This fact aside, there was some entertaining and competitive rugby in the nine-try encounter eventually won by the Roos five tries to four.
Not knowing what to expect from their opponents, both Mudgee and Dubbo played cautiously in the opening stages. The Wombats threw caution to the wind first by spreading the ball wide to new and speedy recruit Dougal Macpherson before he was bundled into touch only metres from the line.
“The first half we looked a bit sluggish and David [Goldring] and myself gave them a rev up at halftime. I think they turned it around. Our defence became better and did the basics”
Some crafty play in the ruck and a great steal from the Wombats’ Sam Schmidt saw the home side march downfield where Macpherson was able to offload to Andrew Roberts for first points.
Dubbo then got their own back and the two sides went in to the first break one try a piece.
The visitors’ momentum was maintained during the second quarter as they put on two more tries and Mudgee appeared as though they would be in for a long afternoon.
But Mudgee’s performance was not as bad as it seemed and their coaches agreed. They believed Mudgee was matching Dubbo’s fitness and an injection of self-belief would see the game swing.
Mudgee coaching staff member, Angus Rae, said there was much improvement from his men when they decided to take the game into their own hands.
“The first half we looked a bit sluggish and David [Goldring] and myself gave them a rev up at halftime. I think they turned it around. Our defence became better and did the basics,” Rae said.
“We also reminded them to tackle low and have less players involved. Having four men tackle was wasting their energy. They turned it around and I think that gave them a boost because they realised they could get the job done and guys were covering.”
Mudgee were able to swing the game back their way with a switch play of sorts that saw Tom Roberts find a gaping hole near the posts. The Wombats also capitalised on several Dubbo handling errors to peg back another two tries including one to McPherson and Rob McKid right on the final buzzer.
Wombats backs coach, David Goldring, said the side were a shadow of themselves in the second stanza.
“In the second half we started communicating better and that is what you need when blokes are tiring. We ended up looking like a decent side out there and in our books we won the second half,” he said.
Some of the standouts for Mudgee included Beau Stanford who made some great tackles and Matt Neil who played well at halfback for periods of the trial.
The Mudgee Wombats’ first Blowes Clothing Cup game will be away to Forbes on Saturday, April 5.