Tiger Machine Clicks Into Gear
Eden 34 Tathra 10

The Great Southern Inn Eden Tigers, proud Premiers from 2010, gave an early and ominous warning to the other group 16 title aspirants with a strong, if not spectacular, win over an enthusiastic Tathra outfit last Sunday in Tathra. Captain Coach Tommy Lynch led by example with a rousing front rower's display, splitting the Tathra defence with his first run off the kickoff and thereafter on virtually every occasion he hammered the ball forward.

The game started in the fashion that the Eden club is accustomed to- 3 penalties in a row to the opposition- solid and sustained defence, and then Eden struck back to score the first try with prodical son Scott Jackson crossing out wide from a perfectly judged kick by Laurence bamblett. The Bolton conversion was unsuccessful but was to be his only miss of the match.

The Tathra side withstood a series of attacking raids which were brought about through some poor handling. Phil Crosby and Spud Ella were causing the Tathra defence serious problems , Mick Wykes was working hard in defence and attack and Ian Smith was also heavily involved. Winger Toby Timms was also getting involved with strong defence and attack when opportunities were presented to him. The Eden crowd were enthused when club stalwarts and crowd favourites Neil Baker and Corey Stewart made appearances from the bench.

Tiger's veteran Todd Bolton is about to unload the ball to newly arrived English import Phil Crosby. Phil took full advantage of his oppurtunity to crash over the line and score.

With Eden clinging to a narrow 4-0 lead and half time approaching, Eden fullback Todd Bolton was requested to have a ten minute rest for voicing dissent at some of the mysterious decisions by the match officials. The Tathra side promptly scored a length of the field try against the run of play through pacey fullback Sam Murphy. The try was scored adjacent to the posts, so close in fact that the Tathra scorer had the home side ahead 6-0 before the kick missed and the scoreboard had to be readjusted to 4-4. As halftime approached the heavy workload the smaller Tathra forwards had endured began to take its toll with the home side defence slow to move up and dropping off tackles. This seemed to be a signal to the Eden forwards to intensify their efforts and in short time Sam Ellam scored after another strong hit up by Ella, and then Phil Crosby stormed across for a well deserved try to put Eden 16-4 ahead at the break.

The second half began with the Tathra side throwing everything at the Tigers defence, only to be repelled with sturdy defence from Tom Bell, Cameron Brown and Toby Timms. The Tigers eventually found themselves on the attack through a great Darren Griffin run before thewily veteran Corey Stewart lit up the (Eden) crowd with a slick try out wide.Bolton's conversion took the score to 22-4 and the game appeared to be safely in the Tigers hands.

Michael Wykes was the next to score after picking up an immaculate Smith kick to take Eden's score to 28-4 before Tathra scored a consolation try to make the score slightly respectable.The Tigers weren't done yet though, and after great lead up work from Toby Timms and Phil Crosby , Ian McBain finished the try scoring for the afternoon and the Tigers finished with a comfortable 34-10 victory. Penalties were 8-3 to Tathra.

It was a great first up hit out for the whole team with all players making significant contributions.Tom Lynch was the dominant player on the field for the whole game, but he was very well supported by Phil Crosby, Mick Wykes and Brian Ella in particular. For Tathra fullbackSam Murphy was always dangerous and centre Ned Cryer showed his class . Although the weekend's effort was pleasing, we expect the team will face a sterner challenge this weekend when we make the pilgrimage to Cooma where all four teams will be playing.

Phil Crosby's first try in Eden colours. For more photos from the tigers trip to Tathra see the Gallery.