The Greater Northern Tigers representative sides almost pulled off a tremendous double at Mullumbimby today. 

The two junior teams tackled the Northern Rivers Titans at Les Donnelly Field and celebrated a win in the first game when the Brett Jarrett-coached under-16s prevailed 16-10. 

Unfortunately, the Darryl Rando-coached under-18s had their opportunities and led on three occasions but succumbed to a 32-26 loss. 

The Tigers hit the front 12-6 early, 18-14 at half-time and then 22-20. 

A late try to young Scone prop Jake Clydsdale, his second for the match, gave them a late hope to trail 32-26 but it wasn’t to be. 

They had to settle for a frustrating six-point loss. 

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

“The boys just made too 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 of play. 

“It’s very frustrating.” 

Earlier in proceedings, Sam Carr, Campbell Munn and Jack Foley had played important roles in the Tigers under-16 victory. 

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

“At the end of the day, it was a win,” Jarrett said. 

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

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)’ 

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)

• Geoff Newling