The Nyngan Tigers went down in a nail-biting 26 to 20 loss to the Macquarie Raiders at Caltex Park in Dubbo on Saturday night.
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The Tigers had come off a strong pre-season where they had beat the Raiders.
They were disappointed to lose the first round of the season.
For Nyngan captain-coach Stewart Mills, who produced a number of bone-rattling hits during the loss, it was a frustrating showing but he was adamant his side would improve as the season goes on.
“I thought we were on top most of the game and obviously in the first half we were winning by two points and we defended the whole half so that shows the kind of defence we’ve got but the second half, it didn’t work for us,” he said.
“I thought we showed some good signs for the rest of the season but it just wasn’t good enough to get the two points.”
Willie Wright, an off-season Raiders recruit from Walgett, starred all match and he opened the scoring but the Tigers took the lead less than 10 minutes later when Benny Cokanasgia darted over from dummyhalf.
A pinpoint Raiders’ chip was gathered in by flying winger Ash Widders to put Macquarie back in front but following Blaize Fuller’s sin-binning the Tigers hit back right on half time through Mills to lead 12-8 at the break.
The Raiders again started in style and raced out to a 20-12 lead after tries to the the impressive Chris Daley and Wade Peachey but Nyngan wouldn’t go away and fullback Sam Simmonds eased through a yawning gap to get his side back in the contest.
I thought we showed some good signs for the rest of the season but it just wasn’t good enough to get the two points.
- Stewart Mills, Tigers Captain-Coach
The match turned into a gruelling arm wrestle, with the Raiders muscling up against the Tigers’ beefy pack, and with 11 minutes remaining the home side produced a slick attacking move which was finished by Brad Spencer.
The Tigers struck with four minutes to go through Jone Yacadrau but the it wasn’t enough as Macquarie got one back on the side which defeated them during last season’s semi-finals.
DUBBO MACQUARIE 26 (Willie Wright, Ash Widders, Wade Peachey, Chris Daley, Brad Spencer tries; Wright 3 goals) defeated NYNGAN TIGERS 20 (Benny Cokanasgia, Stewart Mills, Sam Simmonds, Jone Yacadrau tries; Simmonds 2 goals)
See Trevor Waterhouse’s Tigers news on page 11.
