Tallon Smith

The Darlington Point-Coleambally Roosters have handed Griffith Waratah Tigers their second loss of the season in a 32-26 shootout at the Darlington Point Sportsground on Sunday.

In a match where the two teams crossed for five tries apiece, it was the superior goalkicking of Josh Veivers that saw the Roosters knock off their second major contender at home in the space of two games after their round 14 win over Leeton.

Roosters five-eighth Ben Jeffery said that it was a hard fought game, with the lead changes meaning that neither team felt comfortable at any stage.

“It was pretty close the whole way through,” he said.

“I think it was just a few goal kicks in the end, that was the difference. 

“Both teams I think wouldn’t have been overly happy with their completion rates and some of the patchy bits of defence we threw up. 

“We were lucky enough to get away with it.”

The four-point swing to the Roosters in their pursuit of the first-placed Tigers, leaving them just two points adrift of them in the Minor Premiership race.

However, according to Jeffery, the Roosters are focused on taking it a game at a time as they aim to defend the major crown.

“We’re not too overly worried about the Minor Premiership,” he said.

“We’re just trying to build and work on things and take each game as they come. 

“Hopefully we can sort of progress a little bit and get a little bit better each week and hopefully when finals come around we’re playing some decent footy.”

As for who was the standout for the Roosters on the day, Jeffery was quick to praise his hooker and two of his middle forwards, who managed to go with Waratahs’ monstrous pack.

“Kane Simpson was really good. He played a full game there with Tommy [Fattore] being away,” he said.

“Tommy got married on Saturday, so we had a few dusty boys at the footy on Sunday, but Kane stepped up, he was really good. 

“Huggy [Jon Huggett] was really good again and Guy [Thompson] just played his normal game.”

Moving to other games, the Yanco-Wamoon Hawks secured a much-needed victory with a 28-22 win in their clash with the Yenda Blueheelers at Wade Park.

A double to Mesulame Navakayala proved to be the difference, while the trio of Billy Ingram, Caleb Atkinson and coach Jim Dabea also crossed the stripe for the Hawks to ensure they bagged a crucial two points.

Leeton joined their local rivals in the winners’ circle with a 52-16 win over a resurgent TLU side just up the road at Leeton No.1 Oval.

Winger Jesse Watson starred with a hat-trick in the win, which saw Leeton keep a comfortable three point lead over the Yanco in third place.

Finally, the Hay Magpies leapfrogged Yenda into the top five with a 66-6 win over West Wyalong at Ron Crowe Oval.

The Magpies ran in an astonishing twelve tries, four of which went to winger Kynan Headon, as the match was called with nine minutes to play under the mercy rule.

Adding to the disappointment for West Wyalong was the loss of inspirational captain-coach Braiden Jones to an ankle injury in the first half, with scans to determine his fate for the remaining rounds.