RUGBY LEAGUE
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ORANGE Hawks’ woes continued yesterday, with Blayney producing an inspired second half performance to claim a 32-22, come-from-behind victory at Wade Park.
Orchestrated by halfback Terry Brown, the Bears piled on 22 points to Hawks’ six in the second half to claim the 10-point win and secure outright second on the Group 10 premier league ladder.
With broken bodies strewn across his side’s bench - so much so the Bears finished the game with 12 men - Brown had a hand in three of Blayney’s four second half tries, and scored one of his own in the first period, leading his side to victory.
“Terry’s playing out of his skin at the moment,” injured Blayney captain-coach Dane Howarth said.
“Our forwards do lay a pretty good platform for him, but he’s come along in leaps and bounds this year.”
Despite the win the Bears produced a diabolical first half, with Hawks doing the opposite.
Led by lock Deryne McKenzie - arguably the best on ground despite Brown’s exploits - the two blues were superb in the first 40 minutes, opening the scoring just four minutes in through debutant halfback Brodie Christopherson.
A two blues error - one of just two in the opening half, which both led to Blayney tries - gifted Cameron Dennis a four pointer five minutes later.
Despite the hooker giving his side a 6-4 lead with his conversion, Hawks hit the front again straight away when player-coach Jared Brodrick crossed.
But a wayward pass gave Brown his first chance to impress three minutes later, the Blayney pivot swooped on the loose ball and ran 70 metres untouched to score.
With Blayney’s ill-discipline gifting Hawks field position, McKenzie put prop Mitch Davis in for his first of the afternoon, and Jason Gangaram’s conversion gave his side a 16-10 lead at the break.
However, the two sides transformed during the half-time break.
VIDEO: What the coaches had to say at full time:
Blayney returned to the form which has seen them labelled genuine title threats, while Hawks dropped off, dramatically.
The Bears’ gargantuan forward pack reverted to a simple, hard-running game, and the visitors ran in four tries to one in the second half on the back of it.
Centre Josh Rainbow grabbed a second half brace, and props Will Ingram and Terawhiti Cooper both crossed as well, all on the back of Hawks errors.
With his side also hit by injury, and forced to field five under 18 players, Davis scored his second late in the game.
“We’re hanging in there with the top teams, we’re just struggling to stay with them for the full 80 minutes,” Brodrick said.
“I thought we were [the better side for a long period], that game was really there for the taking. We had a couple of injuries ... and we had five under 18 players backing up for us. It makes it a bit hard with that inexperience, but it’s not that the effort wasn’t there.”
“Defensively we were great in that first half,” injured captain-coach Brock McGarity added.
“We just started falling off some tackles in the second half, it makes a big difference.”
BLAYNEY BEARS 32 (Josh Rainbow 2, Terry Brown, Will Ingram, Cameron Dennis, Terawhiti Cooper tries; Dennis 4 goals) def ORANGE HAWKS 22 (Mitch Davis 2, Brodie Christopherson, Jared Brodrick tries; Jason Gangaram 3 goals).