Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mudgee showed a lot of guts in the men’s open division to reach the quarter-finals of the Plate competition (C-grade) at the NSW Touch State Cup, according to manager Roger Lang.
A tournament-ending knee injury to Ben Newsome in the first match and another knee complaint restricting Tim Condon’s impact, could have derailed the Mudcrabs’ campaign.
But the purple brigade dug in and performed brilliantly to reach the quarter-finals of the Plate series – the third division of the men’s open competition.
Last year, Mudgee failed to win a game on day one of the competition but on the weekend at Port Macquarie they won two of their three matches.
They defeated Carlingford Cyclones 5-2 and Norths Bears 5-3, but loss to Parkes Pumas 9-6.
Mudgee finished second in Pool I and qualified for the Plate series and would take on Hornsby Lions (3), Quirindi and Canterbury Bulldogs (2).
The Mudcrabs won against the Lions 7-5 and hammered Quirindi 11-3 but just loss to the Bulldogs 6-4.
In the quarter-finals, Mudgee met Varsity Stingers (2) and despite a late fight back from the Mudcrabs, the Stingers won 7-5.
The Stingers went on to lose the Plate final to Hills Hornets (2).
Lang said the team performed well on the weekend.
“They showed a lot of guts,” Lang said.
“We lost Ben Newsome halfway through the first match and then Tim Condon injured his knee, plus a few of the other boys had niggling injuries, so we were down on numbers.
“You need a fully fit team to compete at State Cup and I think if those boys were 100 per cent, it would have been a different story.
“But the boys did a lot of hard work leading up to the event. Jeremy Doherty did most of the coaching. I just made sure the shirts were cleaned and the water bottles filled.”