RUGBY LEAGUE
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A LACK of numbers is becoming a big issue for defending New Era Cup champions CSU Yellow, the problem highlighted as they suffered their fourth straight loss of the season on Saturday to Wallerawang Warriors at Diggings Oval.
A depleted Mungoes outfit had plenty of punch in the opening half, but with limited reserves fatigue set in and they slipped to a 20-16 defeat.
Yellow had led 16-4 at the break and Mungoes vice-president Brad Wright felt his team probably would have had the Warriors’ measure with more players on their side.
“Wallerawang just capitalised on our lack of intensity. The thing was that they had about eight players on the bench and we’ve got two or three,” he said.
“We worked well in defence and tried hard, but against a team with that many replacements you can’t expect too much. Our whole forward pack has to play for the full 80 minutes and that’s just too hard.
“We started the season with about 25 players. After that a couple decided that football wasn’t going to be their priority and then there were a few injuries.
“It’s been the case now for the past few weeks. Against Blackheath we ended the match with 11 players on the field.”
In the early stages of the contest when Yellow were fresh, they were able to outmuscle Wallerawang.
They ran in early tries to open up a 12-point lead by half-time, but the effort told.
Warriors’ size was too much to contain in the second half as they scored 14 unanswered points to take the win.
But it is not all bad news according to Wright, who knows those the Yellow players that have taken to the field boast plenty of talent.
“Our players really muscled up and our intensity was spot on and we scored early tries off that. Tom Devitt in particular had a great game. He’s a freak with the ball and at times he can just do what he wants,” he said.
“If we could have continued those first half efforts through the game then we would have been a force.
“It was a really strong, hard football game. Credit to Wallerawang too who played a good, clean game.”
There was better news for the Mungoes’ women’s league tag side, who claimed a win in their opening match against the Warriors.
WALLERAWANG WARRIORS 20 defeated CSU YELLOW 16