John Fitzgerald

The two Tigers teams, Canowindra and Oberon, met up at the Tom Clyburn ground for their round 5 match won by Oberon 18-16.

At Manildra’s home ground the Rhinos flexed their muscles with a 60-point drubbing of Grenfell’s Goannas, while Blayney Bears copped a 72-10 hammering at Molong by the Bulls.

Apart from Cowra’s 38-18 defeat of Cargo most other matches were fairly closely contested, none more so than the two Tigers, Canowindra and Oberon, who met up at the Canowindra ground for their round 5 contest.

Following the two-hour trip and with a short bench, Oberon did not begin with the aggression they had in the early part of their previous game against the Warriors, but in the first half still ran in three converted tries, with a higher rate of possession and field position than their opponents, for a respectable halftime score of 16-0.

They scored all of the game’s first-half points with three converted tries, to Lleyton Lothian, Nathan Barlow and Senio Lefaoseu and, in a typecast game of two halves, Canowindra began their pursuit and chase down of all the second-half points.

Their first try of the game was scored by Deegy Mariner in the 52nd minute and converted by Bailey Kennedy.

Three minutes later Kennedy himself was across for four points but was unsuccessful with the conversion.

At 18-10 Andrew Bennett scored Canowindra’s next try, converted by Kennedy for an 18-16 scoreline while keeping their opponents scoreless.

Oberon had squandered a good first-half lead, and just two points in arrears the local Tigers were now roaring, and with 16 minutes remaining the final result was seriously in doubt.

The visitors were scrambling in defence in the final period of time, during which a player from each side was sin binned for dissent, and with both teams visibly tiring Oberon managed to keep Canowindra at bay till the final whistle in an unconvincing result, the Canowindra Tigers having scored all the second-half points to get within two of their rivals.

Oberon’s two competition points maintains their top-five position, only two behind leaders Manildra and Cowra on 10 points.

They share a place on the ladder with Molong and Orange United Warriors.

Canowindra, with their loss, has dropped back to eighth spot on the table.

Next weekend, with the representative tournament at Boorowa, there are no club games, and competition will resume a week later.

For a third time in a row Oberon will be involved in the match of the round when they host high-flying powerhouse Manildra in their round 6 match-up that will test the resilience and credentials of the Tigers with a home ground advantage.