Mudgee Dragons | 16

Mudgee’ under 18 side were left to rue a poor start in defence as the Lithgow Workies ran out 28-16 at Glen Willow yesterday.

Down by 18 points at half-time the Dragons finally kicked into gear in the second stanza to give themselves an outside chance of victory.

But the bigger and more dynamic pack for the visitors proved to be the difference as they ran out deserving winners.

Workies came out of the gates firing and earned more territory after a penalty from a scuffle allowed them to hammer at the Dragons’ line more.

And the away side did not need a second invitation as Nathan McAndrew raced across the line out wide to make the score 4-0.

Mudgee’s defence in the middle of the field was exposed by the mobile Lithgow pack that punched holes in the defensive line seemingly at will.

Lithgow earned three sets in a row on the Mudgee line with McAndrew showing too much strength as he carried three defenders across the line to score his second for the game.

Workies’ Cody Godden took over the kicking duties and slotted the conversion to give Lithgow a handy 10-point lead.

The away side continued their dominance in the first half as Nicholas Miller made the Dragons pay for sloppy goal line defence as the lead ballooned out to be 14-0.

The home side continued to struggle when the restart went dead in-goal on the full.

As a result Lithgow marched back down field with Miller bagging his second try to make it 18-0 at half-time.

The tide continued for Lithgow after the break when they scored quickly twice before Mudgee finally opened their account to make the score 28-6 thanks to lock Jeff Wright.

The glimmer of hope continued as Mudgee were next on the board after a line-break saw Charlie Clayton finish off the movement as the home side continued its comeback, narrowing the score to 28-16.

The Dragons showed plenty of fight late in the game as they continued to play out the game with Jack Beasley making a sniping run from dummy-half.