Cover Photo: Dee Blackstock
Tallon Smith
A near-perfect first half with the ball was the recipe for success as West Wyalong bounced back from last week’s 60-point loss to Yanco-Wamoon to defeat the Hay Magpies 36-22 at Ron Crowe Oval on Sunday afternoon.
Led by an incredible two-try performance from barnstorming front rower Joseph Silas, the Mallee Men piled on five tries in the opening stanza to open up a 22-point half time lead, which proved more than enough to snap a four-game losing streak despite a second half fightback from the Magpies.
After being bolstered by the return of several key players who missed the Yanco match, West Wyalong coach Luke Clarke was pleased with his side’s performance, with its first half completion rate a particular point of satisfaction.
“It was a great win by the boys, it was good to get back in the winners’ circle,” he said.
“[We had] a lot of blokes out last week, it was a one-off thing for us, but everyone [was] back this week, and in front of the home crowd we pulled a good performance out of the bag and got the win.
“It doesn’t matter who you play, if you complete at over 80 or 90 percent you are going to win most of your games.”
Silas opened the scoring after three minutes, before a Clarke kick left to bounce found its way into the hands of lock Braiden Jones who raced in to extend the home side’s early lead to 12-0.
Off the back of their first two wins of the season, the Magpies hit back through new signing Gary Parai, who scored from dummy half to halve the early deficit.
However, that reply was cancelled out threefold before half time, with Silas crashing over again off an offload from Mitch Pettit, followed by a great team try finished off by Dylan McCartney under the posts.
Oscar Wood then added the cherry on top of a sublime opening 40 minutes with a superb solo effort in the shadows of the break, dashing 29 metres from dummy half to the line.
Needing to be next to score, Hay did just that to keep itself in the match, with both centres Andrew Solo and Rex Rokosusu crossing to bring the margin back to 12 at 28-16.
That prompted the Mallee Men to take a shot at penalty goal when presented with the opportunity nine minutes from full time, before the sides traded tries late through Parai and Logan Collins.
The contribution of Silas up front to the result was not lost upon Clarke, especially given that the side was missing an important member of its front row rotation in Christopher Judd.
“Joseph was awesome … he actually played 80 minutes up in the front row today, which was unreal because Juddy was away,” he said.
“He was great, he tipped on when he had to, he took the line on when he had to as well, and scored two tries the big fella, so it was a great performance.”
In addition to Silas, Clarke was also impressed with a number of other players’ performances, including a rising first grade rookie.
“We actually struggled to pick the players’ player today,” he said.
“Oscar our hooker had a great game, our young 17-year-old Will Tulloch got joint players’ player in the front row, he had a great game, [as did] Dyl McCartney, Jaxon Lemon.
“We lost Logan Collins pretty early in the game, he was a bit sick, we had to bring a bloke on that plays reggies in the centres and [that] made it a bit tough for us.
“Honestly, the whole team was good today, no one had a bad performance.”
As for West Wyalong’s top five chances, they were given a boost by the simultaneous result at Darlington Point, with DPC falling 64-10 to second-placed Griffith Waratahs, keeping the Roosters and fellow contenders Black & Whites two games behind the fifth-placed Mallee Men.
Talking postseason chances, Clarke is “very confident” his side can hold on to its position inside the top five through the final five rounds of the regular season.
“I have got no doubt we will make the top five, and fingers crossed we can win our next [few],” he said.
“We had a rough three or four weeks leading up to today, but back to full strength today, all bar our front rower, and showing what we can actually do.
“We have got [four] games and a bye left, so if we can finish in the [top] three or four [that] would be awesome.”
Other Group 20 results from Sunday afternoon saw Tullibigeal-Lakes United upset Leeton 22-10 at the Leeton No.1 Oval, while ladder leader Yanco-Wamoon continued its winning ways with a 52-4 away victory over Yenda.
WEST WYALONG 36 (J. Silas 2, B. Jones, D. McCartney, O.Wood, L. Collins tries; B. Jones 4, L. Clarke, J. Silas goals) DEFEATED HAY 22 (G. Parai, A. Solo, R. Rokosusu tries; S. Loka 3 goals) at Ron Crowe Oval, Sunday July 12.
