The Kandos Waratahs walked into an old-fashioned ambush on Saturday as Blackheath announced itself as a genuine powerhouse in this year’s New Era Midwest Cup with a 68-8 showcase. Led by Matt Ranse, the Cats carved their way through Kandos’ edge defense, creating a season-long highlight reel in just 80 minutes of play.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Waratahs showed little resistance throughout the match but put on a pair of late tries to avoid being shut out.
Hayden Cini’s boot paved the way for an Ethan Parsons special, while Matt Woods pounced on a loose ball in the dying stages, giving Kandos something to cheer about on the way home.
While a 68-8 loss doesn’t look pretty, this was the first time the Waratahs played together in 2018 while other sides had the benefit of playing at the Lithgow knockout a few weeks ago.
Kandos is in for another test in round two as Osgood’s men will head to Orange to take on the much-improved Barbarians.
In the second of three matches, the Portland Colts created a 36-24 upset over the CSU Mungoes as their forward pack asserted dominance through the middle and left Diggings Oval with a win.
“That wasn’t a good Mungoes performance,” said CSU representative Tom Siejka.
“We’re better than that and the boys will need to play a lot better against a gun side like Blackheath in round two.”
The students were without several stars including pivotal halfback Oscar Thorburn who will look to lift his game this year in the wake of a handful of personnel blows including powerhouse back rower Regan Hughes.
Portland might emerge as a side to watch out for in the coming weeks as the boys in black and yellow qualified for the finals in 2017 and look to have made improvements in the off-season.
Orange Barbarians rounded out the results with a 38-8 win over the Lithgow Bears, picking up where they left off at the end of last season.
The Barbarians will look to join the likes of Blackheath in the contenders pile after falling one try short of a grand final berth in 2017.