ON THE back of a four-try haul from fullback AJ Sykes, Orange Emus dismantled the lowly Narromine Gorillas, piling on 78 points to zero in the traditionally tough road trip to Cale Oval.
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Emus scored over a point a minute in the opening half to lead 47-0 at the break and ran in another 31 unanswered second half points to complete the rout.
Along with Sykes’ 20-point individual haul Tom Green and Nas Havealeta scored multiple five-pointers while debutant Marty Bryan, Andrew Selwood and Scott McLean all crossed for tries as well, and skipper Nigel Staniforth kicked nine conversions from 12 attempts.
In a strong performance, five-eighth Todd Freedman had a hand in half a dozen of those five-pointers.
Emus’ coaching staff – head coach Paul Ringland, assistant coach Andrew Logan and strength and conditioning guru Jeremy Wallace – were particularly impressed with the fact their side put Narromine to the sword in the second half.
In their eyes, the greens were yet to keep their foot on the gas through 80 minutes and genuinely put a side to bed until Saturday afternoon.
Although Emus were never seriously troubled by the Gorillas, the trying Narromine side – low on numbers and thoroughly outclassed – never lost motivation throughout the 78-point drubbing.
Multiples for Sykes and Green in the first period saw Emus secure a bonus point and shoot to an almost 50-point lead in the opening half, from there the greens’ focus changed from simply winning to winning in a big way, while keeping the Gorillas scoreless.
The greens did just that, running in another five tries in the second 40 minutes.
One of those tries provided the crowd, and Emus’ bench, with plenty of entertainment when front-rower Michael Graham – who was stunning in a herculean 80-minute showing – found space close to Narromine’s line before popping off to hooker Tom Goolagong.
Goolagong then found wrecking ball Nas Havealeta in an all front-row lead up, and the latter barged over for his second five-pointer of the afternoon.
Narromine had a chance to get on the board with about 15 minutes remaining when Emus’ replacement prop Matt Findlay was penalised for not releasing 20 metres out, straight in front of his own uprights but the penalty goal attempt was waved away.
It was the one genuine chance Narromine had to post points for the afternoon.
Ringland, Logan and Wallace were also chuffed with Emus’ fill-in players – the greens had eight regulars unavailable.
Flanker Jack Marchinton, centre Simon Thompson and Bryan were particularly impressive.
Emus maintain top spot on the Blowes Clothing Cup table with the win and it also keeps them five points clear of second placed Forbes, who thumped Parkes on Saturday.
ORANGE EMUS 78 (AJ Sykes 4, Tom Green 3, Nas Havealeta 2, Marty Bryan, Scott McLean, Andrew Selwood tries; Nigel Staniforth 9 conversions) def NARROMINE GORILLAS 0