Tiger Cubs fall to Bega

May 19th 2009-By Dave Evelyn

Eden faced up against Bega in the under 18's clash at George Brown Oval last Sunday. Bega are the side to beat this year and the young Tigers knew they were in for a hard match. This proved to be the case in a tight first half with both sides completing a high proportion of sets before Bega's Tom Newton scored on the back of a Bega penalty after Eden was caught offside. The successful conversion saw Bega with a 6-0 lead. The play moved from end to end but both defensive lines held until late in the half when Eden's Toby Timms made a strong run and then backed up on the next tackle to score for Eden. The try wasn't converted, but with the score at 6-4 at the break it looked like being a close and entertaining second half.

Tyrone Thomas ruffles some Rooster feathers during the clash at the George Brown Memorial Oval last Sunday.

Coach Colin Clarke congratulated the whole side on their first half performance, and urged them to keep up the strong work in defence and hold on to the ball in possession.

The Bega side came out firing in the second half with their big forwards continually making ground through the Tigers front line defence and on the back of consecutive penalties they scored the next try early in the half. The Bega side were dominating possession and the Eden defence was forced to make far too many tackles, and as the half went on this was a telling factor.

Toby Timms was having a huge game in defence and attack, and Matt Evelyn was still testing the defence from dummy half, being caught just short of the line at least twice. Corey Stewart was also very strong hitting the ball up repeatedly. Rob Geraghty made several electrifying runs, and in a fine debut Nick Swiridiuk impressed with some strong running and solid defence. He will undoubtedly be a great asset to the side this season. Dylan Fletcher was prominent at halfback in defence and sparked the attack with good service to the outside backs.

Bega ran in four tries towards the back end of the game to lead 28-4 before Matt Evelyn scored a consolation try at the death to leave the final score Bega 28- Eden 10. After a great first half the second half was disappointing, however the boys know they can match it with the best in the competition if they play intelligent disciplined football, which we only did for one half this week. Players player was Toby Timms.