It was a great escape by the Nambucca first grade on Saturday when they took on the Bellingen Valley-Dorrigo Magpies at Coronation Park.
Nambucca continuously dropped the ball and gave away silly penalties to give the Bellingen team all the early possession and field position. The errors started early for Nambucca with them dropping the ball in their first possession and giving Bellingen an early chance to score.
Magpies capitalised and scored to take the early lead 6-0. Nambucca’s early mistakes did nothing to motivate the Roosters, as the errors continued and Bellingen scored their second converted try for the afternoon to lead 12 – 0.
Nambucca eventually managed to get the ball into good field position, which resulted in Michael Ronan scoring next to the posts. He converted to take the score to 12-6.
Still the Roosters lacked attacking flare as repeated penalties and errors once again invited Bellingen to score. Bellingen responded immediately, scoring yet another converted try to extend their lead to 18-6.
Nambucca then put some quality attack together for the final 10 minutes of the half, which quickly turned into points when Dion Marr scored next to the posts.
Michael Ronan’s conversion took the half time score to Bellingen 18 Nambucca 12. Nambucca’s run of poor play continued directly after the break when Bellingen gained possession of the ball after a short kick-off.
They scored on the back of this, extending their lead to 24-12. This was the spark that ignited the Nambucca team, as some great attacking sets came together.
These culminated when Brad Ronan ran onto a great ball from Paul Donovan to score on the sideline, taking the score to 24-6.
Nambucca struck again almost immediately when Paul Donovan made a great run from 60 metres out, breaking numerous tackles to score next to the posts.
Michael Ronan converted, moving the score to 24-22. The game went back and forth for the 15 minutes with Bellingen managing to hold on to their narrow lead.
Nambucca withstood the pressure and finally crossed for the match-winner in the dying seconds of the game. James Livock ran on to a ball from George Edwards to score out wide for the match-winner.
The final score line read 26-24 in Nambucca’s favour. Nambucca’s win was dampened by the sad news that winger Mitchell Callaway suffered a career-ending injury, fracturing a vertebra in his neck in three places and being rushed for surgery to a Sydney hospital. Mitchell is lucky to have escaped nerve damage but will be seen sporting a halo brace for the next three months.
The players were rocked by the news but will all rally to play at their best in the coming weeks. Nambucca’s ‘player’s player’ was shared between Paul Donovan and Geoff Batten, who both showed their younger team mates how the game is played.
Nambucca will enjoy a much-needed rest next week when they have the bye, which will give their players a chance to recuperate. Nambucca Roosters got the points for reserve grade because the Bellingen team forfeited due to lack of numbers.
Under 18s was a closely contested match, with both sides scoring four tries. The difference was in the conversions with Nambucca scoring out wide and only managing one conversion while Bellingen converted three tries and also kicked a field goal.
The final score was Nambucca 18 Bellingen 23.
Harrison McMahon, Jayden Austen, Patrick Sneesby and Mark Bryen scored tries for Nambucca. Kyle Cohen kicked the only conversion. Half back Daniel Kelly was named players’ player.
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