Tallon Smith
The Cootamundra Bulldogs hit a major milestone in their rebuild after winning their first Group 9 First Grade game in six years with a 34-12 victory over the Wagga Brothers at Geohex Park on Saturday.
Centre Sam Gash starred for the Bulldogs, with two tries and five goals for a personal haul of 18 points, while front rower Nikola Sovatabua dominated through the middle and finished with a try as reward for his effort.
The Brothers’ duo up front of Bill Ryder and Pat Sagigi combined for the side’s two tries in an improved performance off the back of consecutive heavy defeats to Albury and Temora.
Coach David Buttriss said that the win was an incredible result for the club and the town after such a long wait.
“[It was an] unbelievable feeling to get that win yesterday, especially getting both senior results,” he said.
“It’s a great reward for everyone involved in the club.”
After a sloppy first half in patches, Buttriss said that the Cootamundra side turned it around in the second stanza for what ended up being a comfortable victory.
“It was a battle in the first half, unfortunately we didn’t stick to our game plan and it became very scrappy but in the second half the boys really switched on and came away with the win,” he said.
Happy with the overall performance, Buttriss was particularly pleased with a few of his players, especially his enforcer up front.
“Our Fijian front rower Niko [Nikola Sovatabua] really led the charge for us yesterday, he flicked a switch and turned it right on,” he said.
“Our other forwards Tai Vaavale and Lukey Levett were very good defensively and Corey Gale did great work out wide defensively, and in attack, especially in our own end.
“[It was] great to see Oliver Hall make his debut as well.”
The win comes after the Bulldogs returned to Group 9 after a four-year stint in the George Tooke Shield this season.
Meanwhile, the Temora Dragons defended the Challenge Cup for another week, despite falling to the Wagga Kangaroos 22-16 at Nixon Park on Saturday.
Roos skipper Nathan Rose suffered an injury scare before rebounding to score the match-winning try in the victory.
Although pleased to retain the cup, Temora co-coach Hayden Lomax told the Daily Advertiser that he was disappointed to fall short despite the circumstances regarding injury.
“They obviously have a big pack, and we had a couple of injuries with Hayden Philp going down in the first set, he’s a big loss for us, so I thought the boys dug deep to be in it […] the game was there for the taking,” Lomax said.
“We just fell short unfortunately.”
The Gundagai Tigers emerged from their Greenfield Park showdown with the Albury Thunder with a 24-16 victory on Sunday afternoon.
The win marked coach Aaron Gorrell’s second success of the weekend after he guided the Country Firsts squad to a 26-14 win over City at Jubilee Oval, Kogarah on Saturday.
The Young Cherrypickers bounced back from their last start loss to the Gundagai Tigers with a 40-20 win over the South City Bulls at Alfred Oval on Sunday.
All the Pickers’ big guns fired in the game, with Che Hyslop and Matt Noakes crossing for doubles, while Tom Demeio, Tom Giles and Kai Parker rounded out the scoring for the home side in the seven tries to four win.
Finally, the Tumut Blues joined the winners’ circle with a 32-12 win over the Junee Diesels at Twickenham on Saturday.
A double to Zac Masters spearheaded the six tries to two win, which saw the Blues remain undefeated and sitting in second place after five rounds.
Battlers For Bush Footy 