The Narooma Girls League Tag had one of their best games so far this season when they played a well drilled and focused Bombala.

The Bombala High Heelers were throwing all they had at the Narooma girls when they broke through for a controversial runaway try giving them a six nil lead.

In the 20th minute Taylah Tyrell scored a try from a good pass by Jaydeen Patten.  Score Bombala 6 Narooma 4.

After half time the Narooma girls came out fired up with fresh instructions from coach Mark Elmasri but Bombala’s defence was too strong.  It was a tough rough game in which Narooma was given a free kick which Jamie-Anne Wright kicked bringing the score to 6 all.

Then Remi Wilton performed a beautiful side-step to run and score under the posts. Jamie-Anne Wright converted the try and the score was Narooma 12, Bombala 6 which was the final score.

“This team prides themselves in their defence, they work hard for each other and the team spirit to win is enormous,” Narooma Ladies Tag coach, Mark Elmasri said.

“The win on the weekend was one of the best in many ways, it may also clinch the girls the minor premiership.

“Well done,” he said.

The She Devils march on

The ladies did well to win as it was a tough game with tags more like tackles as the girls were at times on the ground.

As the first grade men were warming up, the Bombala lads looked like giants compared to the Devils.

It was worrying, but in the first 10 minutes Tony Tyrell barged though with a lot of work from Ayersy and Harper. The score was Narooma 4, Bombala nil. Fifteen minutes in Bombala scored and it was 4 all.

Narooma Devil Brendan Harper took a kick on the full and ran the full length of the field to score a brilliant try. Narooma 8 Bombala 4.

It was good to see Devils stalwart Ayersy back and running strongly.

Then out of the blue came coach Clint Wright running amok from half of the field to score – Narooma 12, Bombala 4.

Five minutes before half time Bombala scored again – Narooma 12, Bombala 10. Two minutes later Bombala scored again – Bombala 14, Narooma 12.

Bombala was coming back with vengeance and the Devils were in shock until a good kick by Brendan Harper who regathered and sent Clint Wright over for his second try. Narooma 16, Bombala 14.

Following half time and 42 minutes into the match Bombala score and converted – Bombala 20, Narooma 16.

Forty seven minutes in, Clint Wright scored his third try from a cut out pass from Mark Steward and the game was 20 all.

Another good pass from Mark sent Clint over again for his fourth try. Narooma 26, Bombala 20.

Then a second try by Tony Tyrell bought the score to Narooma 36, Bombala 20.  Then a score by Stephen Brown furthered Narooma’s lead 40 to 20.

Stephen Brown came on as a reserve and kept running the ball up ‘like a tornado’ and Try Parsons scored. Narooma 46 to Bombala 20.

Then tries by Karn Mikolic and Ali Elmazri saw Narooma’s lead extended 56 to 20.

In the last stages of the game Bombala scored again and the final result was Narooma 56, Bombala 24.

“All of the boy’s had a good game, but you can’t beat Clint Wright’s four tries,” Devils president Jaimie Wright said.

There was a bad moment when the Devils ambulance paramedic, James Taylor broke his finger and ankle quite badly in the same tackle.

Devils president Jaimie Wright said that everyone wishes James a speedy recovery.

Get well messages also go to Devils dedicated supporters Doug, Jan and their son Tony who have all had their share of sickness.

Tony is also a staunch worker in the kiosk.  He will be sorely missed, so best wishes go to them all to get well quickly.

On Wednesday night the Devils held a trivia night where they had a lot of fun.

Thanks go to Mandy who worked hard to ensure it was a success and also to sponsors Paul O’Brien and Scott Cavanagh who looked after everyone.

Next week there is a bye and the following week the Devils play Pambula Merimbula away.

Ladies Tag Best and Fairest: 3 Jamie-Anne Wright, 2 Remi Wilton and 1 Taylah Tyrell.  Coach’s award to Jaydeen Patten. Players Player Remi Wilton.

First Grade Best and Fairest: 3 Todd Wright, 2 Neil Graham and 1 Mark Steward who also won the Coaches award.  Players Player Neil Graham.

Narooma Devils poker day

THE Narooma Devils are hosting a poker day on Saturday, July 4 at O’Brien’s Hotel kicking off at 12noon. $20 buy in. $10 rebuy.

Cash prizes, plus prizes down to sixth spot.

Open to all the public. Come and join in and have some fun

All entrants are asked to register at 11.30pm.  Bring your poker face.

THE Devils U12s travelled to Bega for the annual footy carnival on Saturday and shook off a slow start in sub zero conditions to take out their age group in style.

The U12’s were led onto the ground for the first game of the day by their captain, the indefatigable Mitchell Swadling.  The conditions could best be described as Arctic.  Snow was falling on the ground and icy winds cut the players in half.  The boys responded to these conditions by playing their worst game of the season.  Most of the team refused to tackle anyone and no one wanted to take their hands out of their pockets to catch the ball.  The fog was so thick across the ground that it wasn’t until half time the coaching staff realised Ryan Rowley was playing in full tracksuit and a beanie.

Oscar Newton actually froze to death and didn’t take part in the rest of the tournament.

The boys lost 8 – 6 to an Eden team they had previously beaten twice this year.

Despite their first up loss the lads had a chance to redeem themselves against a Tuggeranong Buffalos team that boasted an enormous forward pack.

The Narooma forwards responded to the challenge of facing the big city boys by letting the smallest guy on the field do all the defensive work. Oscar ‘Grumpy’ Carr showed the Buffalo forwards who was boss with a mighty defensive effort.  Grumpy seemed to inspire the Narooma boys who went up a gear and eventually played some vintage rugby.  Niklas Hutcheson took hold of the game by scoring a great individual try and then set the backline alight with his long passing game that finished with Coupar Woods surging through a hole in the defence to score.  Riley Bruest led the forward pack with five hit-ups and Jack Davis bagged a meat pie as the boys came away winners to the tune of 20 – 0.

After losing their first game the boys scraped into the finals on point’s differential and came up against Tathra in the semis.

A good all round performance and with a couple of the forwards starting to thaw out, Narooma came away 12 – 0 winners and booked a place in the final.

The boys had a chance to redeem themselves by playing Eden in the grand final.  The coaching staff talked to the boys about ‘opportunity’ and ‘ball security’ in the pre-game talk and it appeared some of the lads were listening.

It quickly became obvious that a couple of Narooma’s big forwards had been saving themselves for the pointy end of the tournament.  Shaq was woken from his slumber and made several bone crunching tackles and scything runs.  Michael Longbottom was a workhorse all game and showed what he can do to those zippy little quick fellas when he actually gets his hands on them.

Eden had obviously been reviewing the video tapes of earlier games and decided that Kurt Zideluns was the weak link at fullback.  Their game plan of kicking long backfired slightly when Kurt ran in several tries and finished the game with a total run metre of 4756m.

Jerry Mason also saved his best for last and looked more and more comfortable in the hooking role as the day wore on.

Several players went into the finals with niggling injuries but played through the pain to post a resounding 24 – 0 victories.

The boys would like to thank Steve Betteridge for managing them all day and thanks to Ry Dibden who is surely the greatest league safe runner this club has ever seen.  Also a big thanks to Hutcho for his 78 inspirational speeches made throughout the day and for explaining the terminal velocity of a leaf.

Congratulations on the win lads!

Narooma Devils U10s

THE Narooma Junior Devils travelled to Bega on Saturday to compete in the annual Junior Rugby League Carnival.

The U10s first game was against Moruya who played well but the Devils had their measure and went on to win well.

The second game was against a Canberra team.  The U10 Devils lifted their game and came away with a big win.

The semi-final game was against another Canberra team. 

“This game was close all the way with the lead changing several times,” coach Kerry Day said.

“With time running out the Devils defended their try line leading by four points before a dropped ball gave the ball back to the Devils,” he said.

The full-time hooter rang out and a Devils player kicked the ball into touch to finish the game.

Unfortunately the referee didn’t hear the hooter and continued on with the game.

After the third tackle the opposition scored a try to give them the game.

After the game had finished, the referee at the officials table realised his mistake and reversed his decision, giving the game to the Devils.

“The final opponent was our bogey team Tathra,” coach Day said.

“The Devils played a well and gave a polished display to win 26-6.

“All players played well and were deserving winners,” he said.

The next training is on Saturday, July 11, 9am at Batemans Marine Park at Kianga.