Eden Tigers Brand Sun

Tiger Cubs Bare Their Claws

July 11th 2010 by Dave Evelyn

The Tiger's Neil Rankin Builders' sponsored under 18 side headed north to take on the Tathra Sea Eagles in an important Group 16 game last Sunday. Despite missing Morgan Bell injured , and the enigmatic Corey Stewart and Jamie Mohammed MIA ,the boys came into this match confident of reversing the result from earlier in the season when Tathra defeated us at home.

When captain Toby Timms burst over out wide to score Eden's first try after only four minutes the home supporters were momentarily silenced. The bigger Eden pack was making good yards up the middle and again Jacob "Thumbsy" Young was heavily involved in both attack and defence. Both sides played it tight, reaching their kicks and the game moved from end to end. Jess Blewitt and John Hunt were already making good ground wide of the rucks and Cody Crane was also working hard in attack and defence. Tathra scored their first try after a curious tackle count restart and a kick, and the conversion put the home side 6-4 in front.

The Eden boys appeared to have everything under control, but seemed to be dropping off in intensity .They were soon snapped out of their stupor when Tathra scored their second try after a kick through was touched by Eden and the extra set saw the Eagles extend their lead to 12-4.This led to the Eden side refocussing and as the half time break loomed John Hunt scored a good try after a Toby Timms run down the left wing. Dylan Fletcher's sideline conversion brought the Tigers back to 12-10 down at the break.

Coach Mick Wykes was not pleased with the sides lacklustre effort and urged the players to respect possession and play the game in the opposition half. The side responded well to these instructions and began to click into gear, with Rob Geraghty, John Kendall and Andrew Evelyn all revelling in the tough stuff. It was Geraghty who set up Eden's next try with a great run before Jess Blewitt scored. The Fletcher conversion took Eden into the lead 16-12. Blewitt was warming to the task, and was proving unstoppable running wide. His next try came after a barnstorming run left several defenders in his wake, and with the conversion Eden had skipped out to a 22-12 lead.

The Tathra side were in big trouble , and it only got worse when Toby Timms scored his second try as the defence showed reluctance to move up and tackle, and the conversion took Eden to a seemingly insurmountable lead of 28-12.

The last Eden try was a spectacular effort with Andrew Evelyn chasing and regaining a kick through and flicking out a beautiful ball to Dylan Burgess for a great Tiger try. The Tathra side scored a late consolation try but the Eden side were not to be denied, winning this vital game 32-16.

With only 13 players this was another excellent team effort. Chris Challinor and Jay Tinson had strong games, Dylan Wheeler was in everything, and John Kendall toughed it out for the whole game despite being unwell.

We have a big game next Sunday when Cooma come down the mountain. Hopefully we can get our full side to training and then to the game.