RUGBY LEAGUE
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LITHGOW Workies have stunned Group 10 competition leaders Orange CYMS in a dominant 22-12 victory over the green and golds at Wade Park.
Inflicting CYMS with loss number one for 2015, Lithgow’s forwards - led by skipper Chris Rhodes and Mick Sullivan’s shadow, Corey Willmott - laid the platform in an inspired five-tries-to-two performance away from home, one that clearly frustrated a flat Orange outfit coming off a bye round last weekend.
After surrendering to CYMS at Tony Luchetti Sportsground 16-14 last month, Workies coach Graeme Osborne was determined to turn things around.
“We just wanted to come up here and show them what it’s like to get beaten on your home ground,” Osborne said.
“You’re always determined to get away wins, they’re worth four points for you.
“We’ve done a fair bit of work on our structures during the week ... we worked hard Tuesday, Thursday and the rewards have come.”
Big and brutal in defence and, on the back of stand-out Antonio Ale at fullback, Lithgow were simply outstanding with the ball in the upset win.
“All we wanted to do was shut down Sullivan and Timmy Bassmann,” Osborne continued.
“And I think we did that pretty well.
“Timmy only made the one break. He’s a pretty good footballer and you’ve got to shut him down.”
CYMS player-coach Mick Sullivan was tentative to call it a loss the green and golds had to have, instead opting to call-out his side’s soft one-on-one tackling.
“We were pretty soft today and Lithgow went well,” Sullivan said.
“The scoreline didn’t reflect how dominant they were. They were right on top of us, and too good today.
“We gave ourselves the week off to freshen up. Whether blokes spent that right or not, I’m not sure. It certainly didn’t show in our one-on-one (tackles) today and errors. We were a bit erratic.
“We had a few changes ... but there’s no excuses. They were the better side.”
VIDEO: What the coaches had to say after full time:
Lithgow started well, scoring inside three minutes when Antonio Ale slipped straight through the CYMS defence.
Ernie Alo missed the conversion - he would only boot one from five all day - and Lithgow led 4-0.
Ten minutes later CYMS hit back through Simon Osborne, the representative forward charging through a gaping hole to score out wide, with Ben McAlpine’s conversion shooting the hosts in front 6-4.
That advantage evaporated five minutes later, however, when a spiraling Ben Stewart torpedo bomb sent CYMS winger Robbie Mortimer into a spin, his opposite Cody Gooden good enough to scoop up the loose ball and dive over in the corner.
CYMS wouldn’t see the lead again.
Wayde Egan scored late in the first half to advance Lithgow’s lead to 14-6, while Osborne barged over for his second with 23 minutes remaining to make it 14-12 before a Cyp Ale double put the result to bed.
Replacement CYMS forward Scott Sullivan appears likely to face the judiciary this week after being placed on report twice throughout the 80 minutes, the first a lazy challenge with the knees late in the first half, while an alleged head butt in the second period will come under scrutiny.
“We didn’t click at all,” Mick Sullivan added.
“They were hungry after being beaten at home.”
Osborne lauded his pack, particularly Rhodes, and praised Workies’ dynamic fullback, Ale.
“He’s made a big difference. He’s got that speed, a bit of a step, he’s got a bit of Shaun Johnson in his step,” Osborne said.
LITHGOW WORKIES 22 (Cyp Ale 2, Antonio Ale, Cody Gooden, Wayde Egan tries; Ernie Alo goal) def ORANGE CYMS 12 (Simon Osborne 2 tries; Ben McAlpine 2 goals).