The Mudgee Wombats broke their first grade duck for 2017 at Jubilee Oval with a courageous second half performance to hold out the Parkes Boars for a four-point win.
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The top grade result capping off a clean sweep at “the Burrow” with seconds making it back-to-back wins and colts continuing their strong run of form.
The first half see-sawed with the visitors on the board first and taking a 13-10 lead into the break.
But Wombats fullback Lewis Fawcett crossed under the posts early in the second half and the home side held the Boars out until the final whistle.
Coach Tony Muller praised his side’s resolve and said they were boosted by the previous weekend’s draw against CSU.
“It was a great effort there in the second half, down to 13 and 14 players and to defend almost 35 minutes on your own line and not give up a try, just goes to show how much passion there was there,” he said.
“And I think it all stems from what happened last week, we were close but not quite and they knew they had to dig a little deeper. You could hear the team song [from outside the dressing shed] these guys are standing 10 foot tall and will enjoy tonight.
“It’s still going to be a long season for us because we don’t have the opportunity to have the players that the big towns have and we’re still going to struggle against the top teams.But if we can win the ones that we should be winning, like today and the other teams that are going through a similar situation to us, that’s what we can look forward to doing.”
The win also helped redeem the demolition by the Boars in Parkes in the first round.
“They toweled us up 95 to 14 then, so that’s a massive turnaround,” Muller said. “It was very pleasing for the players.”
This weekend for the Wombats is set to be a challenging one though, as they travel to Bathurst to take on the high-flying Bulldogs.
“They’re not coming first but they’re up the top, the guys will go over there with a bit of confidence now,” Muller said.
“It’s just frustrating when you don’t win a game and they’ve got that off their back now, all I can hope for is that they go out there and play like they did today. And come off the field knowing within themselves that they’ve given 120 per cent, some days it will be good for us and some days it’s not going to work, but as long as they give 120 per cent then that’s all you can ask for.”
RESULTS
FIRST GRADE – MUDGEE 17 (Scott Hedrick, Lewis Fawcett tries; Fawcett 3 goals) defeated PARKES 13 (Israel Symington, Lloyd Rogers tries; Rogers 2 goals).
SECOND GRADE – MUDGEE 62 defeated PARKES 31.
COLTS – MUDGEE 46 defeated PARKES 7.
