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Cooma Stallions 32 def Eden Tigers 28
July 18th 2010 by Dave Evelyn
The Eden Tigers Robert Michelin and Sons sponsored reserve grade side season was on the line on Sunday against the Cooma stallions.. Eden really needed a win to give themselves a reasonable chance to make the finals and defend their premiership.
The Eden side was very strong on paper, but when Eden spilled the ball in the first set and Cooma scored their first try after a kick through, the Eden boys were on the back foot. From the restart Eden's livewire fullback Tyrone Thomas took play downfield before Matt Evelyn sliced through the Cooma defence from 35 metres to score under the posts. The Thomas conversion put Eden in the lead 6-4..Following an Eden penalty the home side went on the attack and following another bust by Matt the ball went wide for Reece Wheeler to cross after good lead up by jock Owen.
Cooma received another penalty and scored almost immediately, and the score was 10-8 to Eden. Play then settled down and moved from end to end. Eden had a couple of good chances to score but were denied by good defence and their own poor execution. Cooma scored their next try through just such an indiscretion, with a bad pass letting Cooma go on the attack and a soft dummy half try being the ultimate result.
With the half time siren about to sound, the Tigers worked the ball towards halfway, and then Matt Evelyn went on another speculative dart and threw a lovely ball to Mick Schelfhout on the touchline, who cut back infield showed pace and balance to score a wonderful try under the posts. At the break the score was 16-12 to Eden, and coach Brian Rowe was fairly happy with his charges, urging them to work harder in defence and control possession.
The second half began with Eden dominating early possession. Resurgent AJ Grant was causing plenty of damage to the Cooma defence and attack, and after a strong run from AJ and another run from Matt, AJ himself scored a good try to take Eden to a handy 22-12 lead. This lead was short lived though when Cooma hit back immediately with a converted try.
Despite inspirational defence from the Eden side, and Nick Rowe and Tyrone in particular, Cooma scored the next try to take the lead. A dropped ball by Eden led to Cooma's next try and with the score at 32-22 there was still a slight chance of a glorious Eden come from behind win.
A late try to Mick Schelfhout off a Dylan Fletcher run brought the final score to 32-28. It was a very entertaining match but with the loss the Eden side will now face a big challenge to make the finals.Best for the Tigers today were Matt Evelyn. Marcus Shearer, Nick Rowe and Dan Wattam. Jock Owen and Ian Smith never stopped trying, and under 18's Dylan Fletcher and Andrew Evelyn filled in with aplomb.
Tigger