Sport
3 June, 2022
Super Saturday Rugby League Success
An amazing day at Clifton’s Platz Oval last Saturday with rugby league the big winner in a junior and senior club Super Saturday. The Tenterfield Tigers played the Wattles Warriors in all junior grades other than Under 8, 10 & 12’s.
Under 7 - Wattles youngest stars played some fast football against the ‘Tigers’, “an excellent performance” according to Coach Shadai Daley.
The ‘Willett Electrical’ Warriors were on the ball sounding out gaps in Tenterfield defence and using them to the advantage of those in green and gold.
“Over all, a great home game” said the coach, who also recognised the exceptional sportsmanship shown by the Tenterfield club by allowing some of their players to run with Wattles.
Under 9 - Coach George Berry issued plenty of praise to his ‘Dalrymple Landscape Haulage’ Under 9’s after what he termed a brilliant performance against Tenterfield.
“The first half was one of the best halves of football the team have played to date” according to the proud mentor.
While excelling across the large majority of the contest, the young Warriors let the rallying Tigers back into the game in the third quarter before finishing strongly in the final stanza on their home turf.
It was certainly a special day for the Under 9’s, beginning with Brenden Cook, owner of Dalrymple Landscape Haulage, presenting the enthusiastic players with new sponsored jerseys prior to their game.
Under 11 - The Wattles ‘Clifton Auto Ag Repairs’ Under 11 clash against Tenterfield was a game where the team finally managed to put into practise many of the skills and drills honed at training.
Tackling was superb with Riley Hardy, Diego Picton Shepard, Blake Rees and Jake Burns leading the way, using their shoulders nicely.
The Warriors attack was brilliant, Jake Burns played his best all round game of the year, constantly looking to offload after making line brakes.
Jed Hinz was always in support, he played a great half back role and managed to score three super tries off the back of good work from the forwards and Jake Burns.
Other green and gold try scorers included Jade Bailey, Diego Picton Shepard, Riley Hardy, Copper Zadow and Levi Zadow
Under 13 - An outstanding effort by the ‘Nutrien Harcourts Cooke Real Estate’ Under 13 Warriors enjoyed a mighty 48 – 4 success against the Tenterfield Tigers.
In an excellent team effort Callum Wallis was particularly impressive with his solid defence and good ball movement.
Front-rower Henry McMillan excelled leading the forwards, while half Orry Gilmore also impressed with his defence and bagged a hat trick of tries with the ball in his hands.
Others to shine in green and gold include Will Peters, Marty May, Harvey McPhee, Jackson Bateman and Angus McArthur.
Under 15 - Wattles Under 15 outfit turned up in numbers on Saturday with an impressive line-up of 22 players on the team sheet on their way to a 22 – 18 win over Tenterfield.
The ‘Nutrien Harcourts Cooke Real Estate’ sponsored team started slowly with a few ball handling errors that led to a Tenterfield try early in the match.
To their credit the Under 15’s bounced back well to stay in the fight with the scoreboard reading 12 – 8 Wattles way at half time.
Corey Gascoyne and Nick Denny crossed for tries in the first half with hooker Charlie Spina defending well and tries to both Charlie Smith and Harry Marshall in the second half.
Coach Tom Duggan rated the contest “a very impressive win with the players demonstrating some significant improvement.”
Wattles 22 (Corey Gascoyne, Nick Denny, Charlie Smith, Harry Marshall; Ben Barbierato 3 goals) defeated Tenterfield 18 (Liam Pitkin 2, Brett McLean, Cameron Donadel tries; Jack Giddy goal).
Under 17 - The Tenterfield Tigers finished a distant second to a very dominant ‘Hamblin Builders’ Wattles Under 17 outfit, the scoreboard registering 54 – 0 as the full-time hooter sounded.
Wattles front-row clout can take much credit for one sided result with Darcy Betts, Ethan Metzroth and Botrus Dokshen,with Dokshen earning his first try in green & gold.
Coach Shane Wright felt his backs certainly appreciated the room to ply their trade with the big men making massive gains through the middle.
Wattles 54 (Hamish Gartery 4, Jack Wright 2, Daniel Morris 2, George Nott, Botrus Dokshen tries; Bryce Stewart 6, Corey Deeham goals) defeated Tenterfield 0.
Wattles juniors are back in action at Platz Oval this Saturday, June 4th, against the Eastern Suburbs Hornets from Warwick.
The program for the day originally to be played in Warwick, has been transferred to Clifton due to flooding issues at the Hornets home ground.
Glyn Rees
