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Knights in Greater Northern Tigers’ sights

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The Greater Northern Tigers junior rep sides return to their home region for vital clashes against the Newcastle and Maitland Region Knights at Jack Woolaston Oval this weekend.

The young Tigers made the long bus trip to Mullumbimby last Saturday, with the under-16s winning 16-10 while the under-18s lost 32-26 to the Northern Rivers Titans.

The Knights, meanwhile, beat the North Coast Bulldogs 34-14 in the Andrew Johns Cup and drew 24-all with their rivals in the Laurie Daley Cup.

The Tigers under-18s had their chances but succumbed to a 32-26 defeat.

They led 12-6 early, 18-14 at half-time and then 22-20 early in the second period before the home team took control and scored two late tries.

A four-pointer to young Scone prop Jake Clydsdale, his second for the match, gave the Tigers some hope but it wasn’t to be.

“We let another one get away from us,” coach Darryl Rando said.

“Just made to many mistakes.

“We’ve got a bad habit of every time we score a try, we make a mistake from the kick-off.

“Four times we scored tries today and four times we made a mistake from the resumption.

“It’s very frustrating.”

The Tigers looked sharp in the first half and led 6-0 early after Billy Youman pounced on a Callum Dowell grubber.

Youman earned the players’ player award, too, for a non-stop effort in attack and defence.

His effort to run down Makenzie McGarrigal midway through first half was memorable.

McGarrigal, playing on the wing for the Titans, had taken an intercept 10m out from his own line and set sail for the Tigers’ line.

Youman chased him for 70m and forced the winger to stop and change direction thus allowing hooker Junah Warden and a couple of teammates to collar the youngster and force him into touch.

“He had a big game,” Rando said of Youman.

“He worked hard all game.

“He’s not a flash player but you can play him anywhere, second-row, prop, in the backs and he does a job for you.”

Earlier, Sam Carr, Campbell Munn and Jack Foley played important roles in the Tigers under-16’s win.

Halfback Jordan Hamlin was also impressive with a good kicking game.

“It was a win,” coach Brett Jarrett said.

“We made plenty of errors which is uncharacteristic for them.

“However, they were a bit flat maybe from the long trip up here.

“We were lucky we made a few errors but they (Titans) made more.”

The Tigers now head into fourth round matches at Tamworth’s Jack Woolaston Oval on 26 February against the Knights.

The under-16s kick off at 10am and the under-18s from 11.20am.

  • Geoff Newling

COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Les Donnelly Field, Mullumbimby

ANDREW JOHNS CUP UNDER-16s

  • GREATER NORTHERN TIGERS 16 (Sam Carr, Luke Marco, Cooper Meldrum tries; Oscar Atkin 2 goals) d NORTHERN RIVERS TITANS 10 (Jackson Bennett, Zane Harrison tries; Harrison goal)
  • NEWCASTLE AND MAITLAND REGION KNIGHTS 34 (Steele Hicks, Brayden Skuthorpe, Lochie Gray, Harrison Kearsey, Darcy Jones, Zye Midwood tries; Mathias Norton 3, Tye Wicks 2 goals) d NORTH COAST BULLDOGS 14 (Jay Crismale, Logan Lacey, Zailen Campbell-Cook tries; Jack Alchin goal)

LAURIE DALEY CUP UNDER-18s

  • NORTHERN RIVERS TITANS 32 (Harry Baker 2, Makenzie McGarrigal, Will James, Jesse Soric, Lachlan Offley tries; Harvey Moase 3, Stevie O’Connor goals) d GREATER NORTHERN TIGERS 26 (Jake Clydsdale 2, Billy Youman, Logan Dalli, Kaleb Hope tries; Hope 3 goals)
  • NEWCASTLE AND MAITLAND REGION KNIGHTS 24 (Brandon Thompson 2, Justin Norris 2 tries; Lauchlyn Spicer 4 goals) drew with NORTH COAST BULLDOGS 24 (Mhalikai Mercy 2, Xavier Davidson, Christopher Bull, Shane Davis-Caldwell tries; Shane Davis-Caldwell 2 goals)

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