Tallon Smith
Cover Photo: Razorback Sports Photography
The Bombala Blue Heelers celebrated the 50th anniversary of the club’s 1976 premiership and Clayton Cup win with an upset 38-22 victory over the Eden Tigers at the Bombala Showground on Saturday.
In front of a raucous home crowd including several members of the Bombala and Delegate teams from the famous 1976 local derby grand final, the Blue Heelers secured their second win of the season and in the process dented the finals hopes of the Tigers, who will now need to beat competition leaders Merimbula-Pambula on Saturday to finish in fifth position.
Following the opening try to Eden’s Benjamin Kebby after three minutes, the Blue Heelers hit back with the next four tries in the space of 15 minutes through Peni Kuruisova, Bailey Jones, Deakin Ross and Liam Beazley.
Eden did reply before the half time through Tiaho Hamahona-Taiaroa, but the first half belonged to Bombala, who took a 20-12 lead into the sheds at the interval.
The Tigers emerged the more energised of the teams on the other side, and crossed within a minute of the resumption through Liam Griffin to close the gap to two at 20-18, but it was cancelled out five minutes later when Eli Carter Nareki ran in untouched off a sideline-to-sideline shift.
The two sides traded further tries in quick succession when Jake Griffin went over for Eden prior to Carter Nareki’s second, but the damage had already been done, and when Ross crossed for his double late following an Alex Rosten penalty goal, Bombala had secured its second win of the season by a margin of 16 points.
Bombala co-coach Korie Elton said the victory was a meaningful one as the side looked to celebrate a huge weekend in front of arguably its greatest ever side.
“It was pretty special for the boys to get out there and get the win on Saturday,” he said.
“It was a big lead up through the week, we had the jersey presentation on Friday night.
“All the boys got around the old boys, and we all sat down and had a chat and listened to their stories back in ‘76.
“Unfortunately, Eden scored the first try, and we didn’t know what was going to happen, but the boys rallied back and with some really strong defence, we got on top and just [ground] it out.
“Once the boys got the roll on, they got on a high and went away from the silly mistakes and really escalated on top of that.”
The 38 points scored in the match is Bombala’s highest total this season, bettering the 34 tallied against Moruya in its round six win.
After combining for four of the side’s seven tries in the match, Elton was impressed with the output of his wingers Ross and Carter Nareki, with the former having a strong campaign in his first season of senior rugby league.
“Deakin Ross, it’s his first year playing rugby league after playing AFL ever since he was a kid,” he said.
“To come back and start off in reserve grade, and now he’s playing first grade, is an unbelievable achievement.
“Eli has been a standout all year, [in] defence and attack.
“We played Eli in the second row, but he’s more suited on the wing, especially with his dominant defence.
“He gets up and he can really surprise the [opposition] out wide [with] his defending skills, and once he gets the ball in hand, he’s quick.”
Meanwhile, lock Bailey Jones also made a strong contribution to the win, crossing for a try in a continuation of his strong form this season after a positional switch.
“He started off in hooker at the start of the year and we ummed and ahhed where to put him, and then unfortunately we lost our lock about four or five weeks ago and Bailey was our next choice,” Elton said.
“He has really stepped up in that lock position.”
On the other side of the ledger, the loss is an untimely blow to the Tigers’ finals chances, with the side now needing to beat local rivals Merimbula-Pambula in the final round to make the top five.
However, the luck of the draw has fallen in the favour of sixth-placed Eden, with the two sides ahead of it in Narooma and Batemans Bay set to face each other in the final round.
With Eden one competition point behind both sides and holding a significant points differential advantage in the event of a draw, the result of the match is inconsequential, leaving the Tigers’ fate in their own hands.
Eden coach Nathan Robinson said after going close last time against the Bulldogs, and with a number of players set to return to the side’s line-up, he is remaining positive heading into the must-win clash.
“We ran them close, we lost 38-30 at their place and we’ve got a couple of troops back, so I’m very excited about next week because I think the boys want to lock in,” he said.
“They’ve [the team] all bought in, they want to train three times this week.
“It’s in our own hands and it has been for the last three weeks, we just haven’t got it right.
“It’s a local derby against Merimbula, the last time we played them we were really up for it, so I believe we’ll be really up for it again.”
Looking around the grounds, a late try to centre Mitchell Toomey lifted Bega to a 16-12 victory over the Batemans Bay Tigers at Mackay Park on Saturday evening.
With the scores locked at 12-all with seven minutes to play, an inventive one-handed pass from Roosters back rower Noah Saddler created an opportunity out wide, which Toomey finished off to keep Bega in the top two ahead of a showdown with third-placed Tathra next weekend.
Sunday’s games also proved to be close contests, with Merimbula-Pambula emerging from Cooma with a 32-24 victory over the Stallions, while Tathra overcame a 20-12 deficit with 13 minutes remaining to defeat Moruya 22-20 at Ack Weyman Oval.
The ladder with one round remaining is: Merimbula-Pambula (24 points), Bega (22), Tathra (21), Narooma (15), Batemans Bay (15), Eden (14), Cooma (12), Bombala (8), Moruya (3).
BOMBALA 38 (Deakin Ross 2, Eli Carter Nareki 2, Peni Kuruisova, Bailey Jones, Liam Beazley tries; Alex Rosten 5 goals) DEFEATED EDEN 22 (Benjamin Kebby, Tiaho Hamahona-Taiaroa, Liam Griffin, Jake Griffin tries; Demir Acarer 3 goals) at Bombala Showground, Saturday August 1.
