The Wingham Tigers travelled to the Regional Stadium at Port Macquarie on Sunday, and for the first time in 2016, came away without a win in any grade.
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In first grade, the Port Macquarie Sharks were the competition leaders, just ahead of the Tigers, and the home team came out to bash Wingham from the start
An early try from dummy half put the Sharks up 6-0.
After a quarter of an hour, captain coach Kurt Lewis made a break, and found Joel Kleindeinst backing up to score.
Five minutes later, the home team were in again for a controversial try. A last tackle chip kick was about to be regathered by Joel Kleindeinst who was accidentally tripped by an opponent, who then gathered the ball to run away and score for a 12-4 lead.
With a mounting injury toll, Wingham then scored through Thomas Dooker. Michael Bailey added the extra points to trail 12-10. But the Sharks hit back with back-to-back tries to take the score to 24-10.
A try to Matt Bridge, right on half time, converted by Michael Bailey, kept the Tigers in the game trailing by 24-16.
Twelve minutes into the second half, the home team went ahead with another dummy half try and a 30-16 advantage.
In the aftermath of the try, Michael Rees was sin-binned.
Despite being a man down, Michael Bailey swooped on a dropped ball and ran 90 metres to score, and Wingham trailed by ten points. But again the home team hit back with a try to lead 36-20.
With their full complement back, the Tigers tried to rally late. From a scrum win, Kurt Lewis put in a kick, and Micheal Bailey outpaced the defence to score, and trailed by just 12 points with time running out.
A late try to the Sharks from an intercept made the final score 42-24.
Although beaten, there was a lot to like from the Tigers gritty performance.
(Michael Bailey 2, Joel Kleindeinst, Thomas Dooker, Matt Bridge tries, Michael Bailey 2 goals.)
The Reserve Grade Tigers went into their game leading the competition, but were held scoreless.
The half time score was 6-0 to the home team, but Wingham had two tries disallowed.
The Sharks scored back-to-back tries midway through the second half to extend their lead to 14-0.
A late try sealed Port Macquarie's win by 20-0.
The Tigers Under 18s went into their game with only one player on the bench, and three early injuries saw them down to just eleven players, and trailing 6-0 after ten minutes.
The Sharks scored back-to-back tries, before Josh Essery scored for the Tigers to trail 16-4. Another try to the home team right on the siren gave the home team a 22-4 advantage.
Wingham were courageous throughout the game, eventually going down 48-4. (Josh Essery try.)
The Ladies League Tag team trailed 10-6 at half time after Lily Murray scored a try, and Brooke Atkins added the extra points. Two second half tries gave the Sharks victory 20-6. (Lily Murray try, Brooke Atkins goal.)
The Wingham Tigers travel to the Regional Stadium at Port Macquarie again on Saturday, this time to play the Port City Breakers.
Julia Driscoll
Julia Driscoll has worked as a journalist for the Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Times for seven years. She values the deep connection with community that being a rural and regional journalist brings. Career highlights have involved environmental stories - bringing the plight of the little known endangered Manning River helmeted turtle to the attention of the public, resulting in wide-spread knowledge in the community and conservation action; and breaking the news of the Manning River ceasing to run for the first time in recorded history.
Julia Driscoll has worked as a journalist for the Wingham Chronicle and Manning River Times for seven years. She values the deep connection with community that being a rural and regional journalist brings. Career highlights have involved environmental stories - bringing the plight of the little known endangered Manning River helmeted turtle to the attention of the public, resulting in wide-spread knowledge in the community and conservation action; and breaking the news of the Manning River ceasing to run for the first time in recorded history.
