Tallon Smith

After spending last season on the sidelines, the Narooma Devils have moved closer to an unlikely finals berth in the Group 16 competition following an 18-16 win over the Bega Roosters at Bill Smyth Memorial Oval on Sunday.

The Devils currently sit in fourth place, two points clear of the Bombala Blue Heelers and a point above the Cooma Stallions in the race for the top five.

Devils President Jaimie Wright said that while the two-point victory over the eighth-placed Roosters was closer than many anticipated, it was effort and desire that saw Narooma emerge victorious.

“It was a great effort, [but] we were probably expected to beat Bega pretty easily, I thought we were going to win by 20 or 30,” he said.

“They actually surprised us a bit, they’re not too bad a team, a good young team, good halves and a particularly good back rower.

“It’s always good to beat Bega, they’re not as strong as they were years ago, but they put up a good fight though.”

After struggles with numbers led the Devils to pull the pin last season, the issue of player shortages again reared its head a few weeks ago when the side was forced to forfeit a game.

However, Wright said with players coming back from injury, the Devils are building strongly towards the upcoming finals series.

“Our boys have got a few players back so we’re improving all the time, and I’m pretty sure now we should make the semi finals,” he said.

“We’ve only got one more game, we’ve got two byes, so we’ll get a guaranteed two points and then we’ll play Cooma, which could be a vital game in the second last round, and then we’ve got [another] bye [in the] last round.

“Our focus is on getting a few players back, we’re getting stronger all the time.

“We forfeited three weeks ago, we only had 11 men to go to Merimbula, so we had to forfeit, then we got four back the following week, and we should get a couple back again for next week’s game.

“We’re going okay, when we get all our players back, we’ll go very close to knocking those top three off.

“We’re just focusing on getting in the semis first, which we should, maybe get fourth and get a home semi final, and then with everyone back we can challenge those top three.”

In other results from around Group 16 on the weekend, Batemans Bay finally broke through for their first win of the season with a 26-16 win over rivals Moruya in the local derby at Mackay Park on Saturday night.

Winger Hayden Nye crossed for a double in the Tigers’ win, while fullback Dennis Green also scored a try and added two goals for the Bay side.

The only other fixture over the weekend saw Merimbula-Pambula shut out Cooma 28-0 at the Pambula Sporting Complex.

Ravyn Whetu led the scorers with a double for the Bulldogs as they maintained their perfect record through 12 rounds.