Three grades of football were played against the Bellingen Magpies who are currently without a first grade side.

The Sea Eagles much improved League Tag side pushed the more experienced Magpies, narrowly going down 20 points to 14.

It was a great defensive effort from the Sea Eagles opening 10 minutes to hold the Magpies scoreless. Over the next five minutes Bello managed to run in three quick tries, blowing the score out to 16-0. A nice try in the corner to Macksville’s Tazma Clifford injected some energy to the team. From the ensuing kickoff, Laura Piesley showed a clean pair of heels to race away for a great 90 metre try. Both tries were scored out wide and proved too difficult to convert.

The half time score had Macksville trailing 16-8. The second half saw Eagles compete in every facet of the game which included a great 60 metre try from the zippy Kirstie Pedrola.

The 18s match proved a stop-start affair and a difficult game to watch with the sound of the whistle echoing around the ground on more than 40 occasions in 60 minutes of rugby league. Both teams bore the brunt of the whistle with six players sin binned for minor infringements.

Macksville headed to the sheds at halftime down by 20 to 6. The second half saw a late fight back by the young Sea Eagles on the back of dynamic hit ups from Jordan Moore. Determined runs by an elusive Ryan Atkins and a tenacious Connor Peterkin resulted in tries, but it wasn’t enough with Bellingen getting the biscuits by 28 points to 24.

In reserve grade, the final score of 20 points in favour of the hosts didn’t reflect the game control exerted by the Eagles.

After nine minutes a light footed Cameron Cohen demonstrated great awareness with a classy 50 metre run from dummy half, stepping his way over for the first points. Bellingen struck back to lock the scores at 4-all. Minutes later Damien Carriage showed great speed and strength to power his way to the line from 60 metres out. Cameron Cohen’s conversion took the score to 10-4.

Daneil Donovan proved lethal on the left edge, partnered by his highly skilled cousin Keith Donovan. The 23-minute mark saw Daneil slice through the Bellingen defence off a great ball from Andrew Welsh. The subsequent conversion from Cameron Cohen took the score to 16 points to 4 and that’s how it remained at half time.

The second half saw Donovan score his second just four minutes in. The next 30 minutes of rugby league was again dominated by the man in the middle and ill discipline from both sides. A shining light during this period was the middle defence from Joe Borg. Borg’s tackling included a sensational one-on-one legs tackle three metres out on the much larger opposition prop, preventing a certain 4 pointer next to the posts.

A late converted try to Bellingen against a 12-man Macksville side set up the final scoreline.

Macksville travel to Orara this Sunday for their next clash against three grades of Axemen in the League Tag, reserves and first grade. Orara are expected to be a tough assignment in first grade after some astute purchases for the 2018 season. Reserve grade should get a good measure of where they sit in relation to the competition this year against a side that’s always tough on home soil. The Orara League Tag are also a formidable unit with their proximity to Coffs Harbour and the mid week competition conducted there.

Next home game for the Sea Eagles is against Grafton Ghosts on Sunday April 22 in all grades.