ORANGE Hawks have dropped consecutive games to open the 2015 Group 10 season, thumped 52-22 by the Bears at Blayney’s King George Oval on Sunday.
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The visitors essentially beat themselves, with the two blues’ shocking error rate matched only by the side’s terrible ill-discipline, and that was all the invitation Blayney needed to put on a show for the Bears faithful as they ran in five unanswered tries to lead 28-0 late in the first half.
Some Wise Kativerata magic on the stroke of half-time put Cody Robbins over for his first try of the afternoon, and Hawks scored the opening points of the second half too, this time through Jared Brodrick.
A comeback threatened, but that’s when Blayney lifted.
Tries to Terry Brown and Josh Rainbow snuffed out any potential relinquishing of the lead on home soil, while a flashy flick pass from Steve Lane to a flying “Bubba” Kennedy to score under the posts had the vocal home crowd in raptures as the Bears chalked up two wins from two games to sit atop the Group 10 ladder.
“Our first half was great, it really set it up for us,” Bears captain-coach Dane Howarth said.
“I thought after last week Hawkies would have come out a bit stronger than what they did.”
It’s the first time Blayney has won back-to-back games since 1999, and they’ve now done it in style to prove the Bears are serious contenders for a top three berth in 2015.
“I think we’ve got a bit of a target on our back now,” Howarth continued.
“We’ve worked really hard on our defensive structure; trying to grind it out and points will come ... if you’re not going to defend you can’t attack so, I thought we defended well on our line there a couple of times.”
It’s a mantra worth adopting at Hawks.
The first penalty of the game gifted the Bears field position, and after Terry Brown forced a repeat set with a clever grubber in behind the Hawks defensive line, it was then up to the two blues to show some defensive mettle on their own try line.
That mettle was weak to say the least.
Blayney co-coach Mick Nixon crashed over from close range to score a relatively soft try, and his brother was soon in on the action too when Lane weaved his web through the Hawks defence to slice the Bears up field and hand Josh Nixon his first of the afternoon.
That 12-0 lead was soon 18-0 when Josh Nixon bagged his second and, from there, things went from bad to worse for Hawks when prop Sam Coyte was sin binned for dissent.
Blayney took advantage of the overlap to score shortly after through Casey Wallace, while a Lane chip kick on the halfway line was toed ahead by Brown, who then out-paced Cody Robbins to the ball to score a great try for the Bears, Lane’s conversion taking the score to 28-0.
That was essentially the game gone then and there.
To their credit, Hawks did dig deep at the end of the first half and initially in the second period, but the hosts were too strong and put the icing on the shellacking with four more second half tries.
Hawks captain-coach Brock McGarity said his side’s attitude needed addressing.
“We’re letting each other down,” McGarity said, cutting a forlorn figure after the match.
“It’s early on ... it’s our attitude more than anything. We need to wake up and try and find some form.”
It’s the second week in a row the two blues have battled defensively, with CYMS putting 43 points past Hawks in round one.
For a side that praised the strength of its line throughout the pre-season, leaking 95 points in two games isn’t acceptable, and McGarity knows it.
“It’s the same as last week ... discipline in our tackling,” he said.
“I don’t think we’re respecting the ball enough and I think they scored every try off an error in that first half.
“The boys are just starting very slow ... it’s an attitude thing at the moment.”
BLAYNEY 52 (Josh Nixon 2, Casey Wallace 2, Terry Brown 2, Mick Nixon, Josh Rainbow, William Kennedy tries; Steve Lane 8 goals) def ORANGE HAWKS 22 (Cody Robbins 2, Jared Brodrick, Matt Boss tries; Cody Robbins 2, Mitch Hurford goal).