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Tigers Cold at Cooma
Eden 18 Cooma 27
July 24th 2011 by Dave Evelyn
On a chilly afternoon in Cooma the Great Southern Inn Eden Tigers took on the resurgent Cooma Stallions. Eden dominated early exchanges before wily veteran Darren Griffin scored after great lead up by the newly returned Neil Baker. From the restart of play Eden kicked out on the full giving Cooma possession and good field position, and they promptly touched down to bring the score to 4-4. Play fluctuated from end to end as each team looked for a breakthrough until Cooma began to dominate possession and finally scored through the pacy Matt Silvestro. The Tigers fans were then stunned as Cooma scored two more tries in five minutes to waltz away to a 20-4 lead. The frustrated Tigers did regain some composure when Neil Baker showed his class and value to the side when he scored just before the break to take the score to 20-10 at half time.
Cooma came out fired up after the break and dominated possession in the early stages. That dominance was converted into more points when the home side scored the first try of the second half to take a 26-10 lead. The evergreen Griffin scored his second try, again out wide, and the unsuccessful conversion left the score at 26-14. The Tigers fans knew that the side could win from here if they could hold possession, and that was reinforced when Toby Timms scored next to bring the scores closer at 26-18. Another try by the Tigers at this stage could have seen the Tigers steal the match, but that was not to be. The Cooma five eighth Zac Smith kicked a field goal to extend the lead to 27-18 and that is where the scoring finished.
Best for the Tigers were Scott Jackson, Toby Timms and Neil Baker, while Tom Lynch and his pommy sidekicks Phil, Sam and Brendon also played well, perhaps reminiscing about the weather back home. Brendon was unfortunately injured during the match and was taken to Cooma Hospital.
All in all it was an entertaining game played in bitter cold conditions. The Tigers were well below their best but credit must go to the Cooma side who were much more enthusiastic and outplayed their much vaunted opponents. This loss makes the home game against Bega in 2 weeks extremely important as Eden will have to win to have a chance of securing a home semi final. The Tigers have the bye this weekend.
Tigger