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Tigers Defeat Narooma

May 25th 2009

The Great Southern Inn Eden Tigers scored a much needed away victory over the Narooma Red Devils on Saturday night. Eden, who hung on to win 24-22 after Narooma missed a difficult conversion attempt late in the game will be happy with the two competitions points but not so happy with the way they played at different times during the game.
The Tigers dominated the game early, and following a good break made by Tom Bell down the left hand side, opened the scoring after a Dane Bamblett 30m dash left the Narooma defence grasping. Dane converted his own try and the Tigers led 6-0.

Narooma were soon to hit back. Consecutive penalties found them deep in the Tigers territory and a clever kick on the second tackle allowed Lance Wright to regain and cross untouched. Narooma converted to make level the scores at 6 a piece.
The Tigers then started a period where they completely dominated the game. Dane Bamblett scored our second try after a good individual run and Brent Michelin crossed for the third after a powerhouse charge at the back peddling defence. Neither try was converted but the Tigers had a handy 14-6 lead. The Tigers then had ample opportunities to kill the Devils off but poor last tackle options, misplaced kicks, pushed passes and silly handling errors continually let them down. They needed someone to step up and take control and the absence of play maker Mark Miller from last years team was never so evident. With just 2 minutes to go in the first half Narooma, through Clint Wright, scored a try completely against the run of play and the successful conversion seen Narooma go into half time trailing by just two points after being completely dominated for most of the first half.
The Tigers started the second half well and Matt Bell soon scored after a dummy and a step to stretch the Tigers lead to 18-12. Eden again missed the conversion and the lack of a recognized goal kicker was also adding to the Tiger's frustration. Narooma then started to play the more disciplined football and went 70 metres in 3 plays to see Clint Wright go in for his second try. The Conversion leveled the scores at 18 all and suddenly the momentum of the game was all with Narooma. It looked possible that the Tigers might be about to lose a game that they should have been leading 30-6 at half time.
The game then turned into an arm wrestle with both teams playing with gritty defence but little direction in attack. The Tigers broke the deadlock when the try scoring machine Sugar Mongta barged his way over the line after hitting the ball at speed. Ian Smith managed to poke the conversion over the posts in what would turn out to be a match winning conversion. Narooma then threw everything at the tiring Eden defence and with under 5 minutes to go Clint Wright scored his third try wide out. The Eden bench had fingers crossed and breath held as Willis attempted the conversion and breathed a sigh of relief as the attempt sailed just wide. Eden then managed to hang on for the last few sets to score what can be termed a gritty if not polished away win.
I heard it said that Brad Chatfield was the "best player in group 16" on Saturday night and his performance against Narooma certainly supported this theory. He made several big hits and big runs in a fine all round game. Other players to star for the Tigers were Dane Bamblett with two tries and several damaging runs and Laurence Bamblett who made some excellent busts out wide and did not shirk the tough stuff when bigger payers came charging down on him. Little Bambi's efforts were recognized by his peers as he received 8 votes in the player's player pole. Dane received 5 and Chatty 3.
In the forwards Brent Michelin and Robert Horton were again the standouts and of the others Tom Bell and Ian Smith can also hold their heads proud, after all it was Smithy's pressure conversion of Sugar's try that eventually won the game for the Tigers.
The Tiger team of 2009 will need to improve greatly if they are to defend their premiership. The Tigers are sorely missing the kicking and organizational play that the 2008 five eight, Mark Miller brought to the team. Last year his combination with Matt Bell was first class and their different styles of play complemented each other. This year and especially against Narooma the Tigers lack direction around the halves on the key plays. We never once forced a repeat set to six via a well placed grubber kick into the in goal, nor seriously looked like scoring a try through a well placed bomb. Our last play options seemed rushed and this is one area of the game that will need to be rectified if we are to win another premiership in 2009.
The Tigers have tried Todd Bolton and Matt Creswick in the halves this year and both showed that they could be the answer with more game time. Unfortunately both were missing through injury on Saturday night . The Tigers fearsome forward pack, who have dominated all before then in recent years is also lacking in depth and experience in 2009. We have a number of young players who are just finding there feet in first grade and how much they develop during the year will go along way in determining our final resting place in 2009.

Eden 24 (D. Bamblett 2, B. Michelin, M. Bell, S. Mongta tries; D Bamblett 1 of 3, I. Smith 1 of 2 goals) defeated Narooma 22 (C. Wright 3, L. Wright tries; P Willis 3 of 4 goals) at Narooma. Crowd about 83